Some West Surrey villages

SOME -WEST -SURREY

VILLAGES

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SOME WEST SURREY VILLAGES

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SOME WEST SURREY
VILLAGES

BY

E. A. JUDGES

AUTHOR OF 'IN AND AROUND GUILDFORI) : OLD AND NEW*

ulitb an Introduction

BY

THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT MIDLETON

LORD LIEUTENANT OF SURREY

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY LAURENCE DAVIS AND OTHERS
AND MANY REPRODUCTIONS OF OLD PRINTS

GU1LDFORD

'SL'KKKY TIMES' PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., LTD.

1901

DA

(,10

To L. J.,

MY CONSTANT COMPANION IN

MANY RAMBLES AMONG OUR SURREY VILLAGES,

I AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBE A VOLUME

WHICH OWES MUCH TO HER

EVER-READY HELP

CONTENTS

fAGES

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - xi

PREFACE - xiii

INTRODUCTION - - - xv

CHAPTER I
GOMSHALL AND SHERE

The course of the Tillingbourne Gomshall still unspoiled Shere and its pic-
turesqueness The home of art Mr. Leader at Burrows Cross ' Essira,'
'Schyre,' 'Shire' and 'Shere' The church and the history of the manor
' Shere Vachery ' and the Butlers ' Shere Eboracum ' and the Uuke of York
The Wars of the Roses Touchet, Lord Audley Reginald Bray Parson
Sawcliffe's will Edward Woods and St. Valentine's Day Canterbury pilgrims
and Shere Church Wakes and drinkings in the churchyard Shere sheep-
stealers : a clever capture George Grote and Mrs. Grote at The Ridgeway i 1 1

CHAPTER II
REGINALD BRAY AND WILLIAM BRAY

Reginald Bray : warrior and church-builder, courtier and politician How he helped
to make Henry VII. King His position and influence as one of the King's
advisers Architect of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and Henry VII.'s Chapel,
Westminster William Bray: lawyer, antiquary, and historian How and
when he wrote ' Manning and Bray' His industry as a septuagenarian Edits
and transcribes Evelyn's ' Diary ' A diarist himself 12 18

CHAPTER III
HENRY DRUMMOND AND ALBURY

Henry Drummond and Edward Irving The Albury Conferences How they came
about Their outcome What it meant to Albury Founding of the Catholic
Apostolic Church The building of the new 'cathedral' Drummond as a poli-
tician An anti-frec-trade pamphlet Member for West Surrey Some election
notes His position in the House of Commons His style as a speaker His
personal popularity and worth - 1927

Contents

CHAPTER IV
ALBURY PARK AND VILLAGE

FACES

Albury Park and the Howards Evelyn and the Arundelian marbles Cobbett's
praise of the gardens Heneage Finch and Albury The old church and Albury
in the Middle Ages Church closed by Drummond Two noted Rectors
William Oughtred, the mathematician His studious life Narrowly escapes
sequestration Samuel Horsley The Silent Pool Weston Wood and House
Elias Ashmole, the antiquary Albury eighty years ago An unsavoury reputa-
tion The new church Martin Tapper's home The first rifle club Early
volunteering 28 41

CHAPTER V
FROM CHILWORTH TO SHALFORD

In praise of Chilworth Vale Postford Ponds A John Leech story A legend of
Postford House The gunpowder-mills Early history of the industry 'A
little colony of powder-makers ' Surrey powder and cannon in the Civil War-
Sir Polycarp Wharton's hard case The paper-mills Bank-notes The print-
ing works and John Ruskin Chilworth manor-house The Newark Abbey
monks and St. Martha's Church Tolls from Canterbury pilgrims William
Morgan and his epitaph The South Sea Bubble and the vicissitudes of fortune
Morgan Randyll Richard Holditch and the Duchess of Marlborough Earl
Spencer's steward and the ruins of the church-tower Druidical and Roman
remains St. Martin's Church, Blackheath Shalford - 4251

CHAPTER VI

PEASLAKE, HOLMBURY ST. MARY, AND EWHURST

Peaslake, a sequestered hamiet Through the Hurtwood to Holmbury St. Mary
Felday in olden days Holmbury St. Mary Church Holmbury Hill and the
Battle of Ockley From the hilltop to the weald The ' Great Forest ' in
primitive days Traces of the Romans Ewhurst, a quiet and lonely village
Sequestrating the living John Winge and his parishioners 52 60

CHAPTER VII
CRANLEIGH AND HASCOMBE

Cranleigh before the railway days High turnpike tolls Village life fifty years ago
Cranleigh Church The story of a missing brass Thomas de Cranley
Baynards and Sir Thomas More's head A haunted house Thomas Lyon
Thurlow and the Guildford election of 1852' The Destruction of Thurlacherib '
Vachery Pond and the sixteenth-century ironworks Cranley and Cranleigh
Recent progress Hascombe and its rebuilt church 61 73

Contents

CHAPTER VIII
KNOWLE AND THE ONSLOWS

I'AUKS

How the Onslows came to Knowle The first Speaker Onslow Elizabeth and her
Parliament Sir Edward Onslow's quiet and pious life Sir Richard Onslow
That 'fox of Surrey" A moderate Parliamentarian Attacked by Wither
Suspected by Cromwell Joins in urging the Protector to accept the Crown
One of Cromwell's peers Assists in promoting Charles's return, and hopes
for some distinction at the Restoration, but is almost excluded from the Act
of Indemnity Sir Arthur Onslow His universal popularity Attacked by the
Court Presented at Quarter Sessions Defends rioters and defies Judge
Jeffreys The election of 1679 Great demonstration at his funeral 7483

CHAPTER IX

IN THE FOLD COUNTRY (ALFOLD, DUNSFOLD, AND
CHIDDINGFOLD)

The least explored district in Surrey Its characteristic features Alfold, the Black
Country of the Middle Ages The Surrey ironworks Method of working
Government regulations How and when the industry declined Dunsfold
Church Its bench-ends The holy well Doing penance in the seventeenth
century Chiddingfold and glass-making An old market-town The church
Dr. Layfield's experiences as the victim of Puritan |>ersecution The Crown Inn

84-97

CHAPTER X
AMID THE PINES AND HEATHER

(a) Hambledon and Willey : From Chiddingfold to Hambledon Hambledon
Common Witley'* literary and artistic associations George Eliot at The
Heights J. C. Hook at Pinewood Witley village street The church and the
manor. (6) Thunley and Frensham : 'The Kroom Squire" and Thursley
The iron days The squatters A smugglers' haunt The hutmen's depreda-
tionsLocal superstitions Borough Hill Thor"s Stone and the Witch's
Caldron J. C. Hook and Churt Frensham Pond - 98108

CHAPTER XI

ON THE BANKS OF THE WEY : EASHING (SHACKLEFORD),
PEPER HAROW, AND ELSTEAD

Eashing village and bridge Was Eashing an Anglo-Saxon Burh ? The theory
untenable Richard Wyatt, of Hall Place His family troubles and his bene-
volenceThe Wyatt Almshouscs Pcper Harow Park and Church Alan
Brodrick buys the estate The new mansion A contumacious Rector Owen
Manning Oxenford Grange and its tradition* Elstead Church- 109 1 19

ix b

Contents

CHAPTER XII
TILFORD AND THE WHITE MONKS

PAGES

Tilford Bridge and Tilford Green The King's Oak and Bishop Brownlow North
Isaac Watts at Tilford House Charlotte Smith Her pathetic life-story
Waverley The coming of the White Monks Their piety and their husbandry
The building of the Abbey Church King John and the Cistercians Great
rejoicings on the completion of the church Privilege of sanctuary attacked and
upheld Last days Layton's visit The Abbot's vain appeal to Thomas Crom-
well - - - 120129

CHAPTER XIII

SEALE, PUTTENHAM, AND COMPTON

From Waverley to Seale Crooksbury and its pines Cutmill The summer track of
the Canterbury pilgrims Seale Church Poyle House and Hampton Lodge,
and the I'uilles of Hampton, Oxfordshire Puttenham village Thomas Swift's
eulogy Puttenham Heath and the late Queen Compton Mr. G. F. Watts
the mortuary chapel and home arts and crafts Compton Church and its history
The upper sanctuary - 130 139

INDEX - 140143

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

KRKNSHAM POND A DISTANT V1KW -

NETLEY MILL AND POND

THK T1LLINGBOURNE AT GOMSHALL

MII-.KK CHURCH -

SHERE VILLAGE-

THE BRAV CHAPEL, ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR

WILLIAM BRAY IN HIS 97TH YEAR

PACE

Frontispiece

- 3

- /"ting 4

- 8
., 10

13

- facing 16

From the portrait painted and engraved by John Linnell the print
lent by Mr K. M Bray. K.C.

ALBURY HOUSE IN DRUMMOND's TIME - 21
From a print lent by I^ord Ashcombe.

THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CATHEDRAL, ALBURY 23

HENRY DRUMMOND, OF ALBURY PARK, M.P. FOR WEST SURREY, 1 847- 1 860 fating 24
From a photograph by Lloyd of Albury.

NEAR THE CATHEDRAL, ALBURY 27

AI.IlfKY HOUSE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY - - facing 30

From an engraving in Manning and Bray's ' History of Surrey . '

ALBURY OLD CHURCH, 1837 - - 32

OUGHTKKD's 'KEY OF THE MATHEMATICS' FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE 34

COTTAGES AT ALIIURY - - 36

MARTIN Tl'PPER's HOUSE - 39

VIEW FROM THE NORTH DOWNS, NEAR GUILDFORD - /Ming 42

A RUSTIC COTTAGE, Cll II. WORTH 43

SHAI.FORD UNDER SNOW - facing 46

THE MANOR HOUSE, CHII.WORTH 49

ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, BLACKHEATH - 51

PEASI.AKE - facing 52

A GLIMPSE OF HOI.MIIl'KY ST. MARY - - 55

THE EDGE OF THE PINE WOODS, HOLMHURV ST. MARY 57

HdLMIil-RY ST. MARY CHURCH - 59

CRANI.KH.il CHURCH - -facing 62

CRANI.EIGH COMMON AND WINDMILL- - 66

s|. 1'hlhkV. H\-COMHF, C/A'C./ 1220 - - '7'

From Canon Musgrave's 'Church of St. Peter. Hascombe.'

xi t> 2

List of Illustrations

ST. PETER'S, HASCOMBE, REBUILT 1872 - 7 2

From Canon Musgrave's ' Church of St. Peter, Hascombe.'

KNOWLE HOUSE, 1840 - - facing 74
From an engraving in Brayley and Britten's ' History of Surrey.'

ARTHUR ONSLOW - facing 76
From a print lent by Mr. A. W. R. Sowman.

AN OLD FARMHOUSE, ALFOLD - . 82

DUNSFOLD - 85
SURREY IRONWORK : A SEVENTEENTH -CENTURY FIREBACK IN THE

RECTORY STUDY, CRANLEIGH - - 87
By permission of the Venerable Archdeacon Sapte.

DUNSFOLD CHURCH - 89

THE CROWN INN, CHIDDINGFOLD - facing 90

CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH, CIRCA 1835 - 92
From a print lent by Lord Ashcombe.

CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH, A.D. igol 93

THE OLD SMITHY, CHIDDINGFOLD - 95

WITLEY CHURCH - facing 98

THE STAR INN, WITLEY - IOI

OLD TIMBERED COTTAGES, MILFORD - - 103

THURSLEY COMMON EVENING - fating Io6

BASHING HOUSE IN 1828 - IIO
From a print lent by Lord Ashcombe.

EASHING BRIDGE - III

THE WYATT BRASS, WYATT ALMSHOUSES - -facing 112
From a print lent by the Carpenters' Company.

IN PEPER HAROW PARK ,, 114

ELSTEAD CHURCH, CIRCA 1820 - 1 19
From a print lent by Lord Ashcombe.

TILFORD BRIDGE - facing I2O

THE KING'S OAK, TILFORD - - 123

MOTHER I.UDLAM'S CAVE - 125

WAVERLEY ABBEY IN 1737 - -facing 126
From a print lent by Lord Ashcombe.

SEALE CHURCH - - 131

PUTTENHAM STREET - 133

COMPTON - 137

PREFACE

HE distinctive charm and picturesqueness of our South-
West Surrey villages, some of the notable men and
deeds associated with their annals, some links with the
past which may still be traced these are the subjects
to which the following pages are devoted. I have made
on attempt to supply the copious detail for which we
turn to the works of the county or parish historian ;
nor have I sought to dwell at any length upon many of the interesting
questions on which the antiquary and the careful student of Church archi-
tecture would assuredly enlarge. My aim has been much more modest,
and will be fully achieved if I have succeeded in indicating to all who
know and love West Surrey somewhat of the store of information con-
cerning men and things of bygone days which may be discovered in the
village records of a singularly fascinating corner of the county.

As the phrase just used implies, the rambles I describe have been
confined to a very small portion of Surrey. Some boundary had to be
defined if the scope of the book was to be kept within reasonable limits,
and none seemed more convenient on the whole than the rather arbitrary
lines which mark the area of the South -Western (or Guildford) Parlia-
mentary Division of the county. The chief towns in this area Guildford,
Godalming, Farnham, and Haslemere full of interest though their history
is, obviously lie outside my present purpose. Haslemere, it is true, has
not yet attained official municipal status, but its recent growth has
unquestionably robbed it of its title any longer to be ranked with the old-
time villages of our countryside.

Mention is made in the text of some of the writers to whose well-
known works I have referred. Needless to say, Aubrey's ' Perambulation.'
Manning and Bray's exhaustive volumes, and Brayley's useful compilation

Preface

have been indispensable. Mr. H. E. Maiden's scholarly history of the
county, and Mr. Ralph Nevill's well-known volume on ' Cottage Archi-
tecture in South-West Surrey ' have similarly been freely drawn upon.

I have also gratefully to acknowledge the very cordial assistance accorded
by many well-known residents. My thanks are specially due to the Lord-
Lieutenant, who, in forwarding the introductory note which bears his
signature, mentions two points of interest that may be conveniently
referred to here. Thus Lord Midleton suggests that the Thor stone
which is mentioned by Mr. Baring Gould in his ' Broom Squire,' and
which is the boundary-stone of the junction of the three parishes of
Thursley, Elstead and Peper Harow, is not, according to local tradition,
the true Thor stone, and has evidently been erected as a boundary-stone.
Lord Midleton believes that Mr. Baring Gould was misled by Mrs. Gooch
of Thursley, who, he understands, is now convinced of the mistake. The
real stone is said to be that near Cricklestone Hill, north-east of that
indicated, and close to the spot where the manors of Thursley and Peper
Harow join.

Lord Midleton also gives the following as among the old Surrey names
which go back to the Conquest, and even to an earlier date, and are still
in current use in West Surrey : Stovold, Enticknap, Evershed, Chalcraft,
Covert or Cover, Steere, Heather, Caryll, Boxall, Snelling, Harpe.

I have further to thank Lord Ashcombe for kindly permitting me to
reproduce some old prints from the unique collection in his possession, and
for help in other ways too numerous to specify I am indebted to, among
others, the Earl of Onslow, Sir George Bonham, Sir W. C. Roberts-
Austen, Ven. Archdeacon Sapte, Canon Dundas, R.D., Canon Mus-
grave, R.D., the Revs. G. G. Harvey, E. Hill, W. H. Winn, and E. Dean,
Messrs. R. M. Bray, K.C., A. E. Anderson, R. J. Askew, H. Fairmaner,
T. J. Lacy, S. Rowland, A. W. R. Sowman, George Tayler, George
Unwin, and David Williamson.

E. A. J.

INTRODUCTION

LL who appreciate the extreme beauty of the tract of
country bounded northwards by the Chalk Downs
and southwards by the sand ridge will welcome the
appearance of the volume of which these few lines are
intended as a preface. It is well that some memorial
should be preserved of scenes and buildings many
of which are yearly changing, while some are rapidly disappearing.
Could the shade of William Cobbett revisit Hindhead, he would fail to
recognise in the villas of the Surrey Switzerland the unprofitable wastes
upon which he expended so much needless indignation. Next to the
exquisite beauty of its village greens and downs and commons, enough
still remains of the rural architecture of Surrey to give the county a charm
of its own.

' So far more safe the vassal than the lord ' is an old Surrey proverb,
the truth of which no one can fail to recognise who compares the
number and picturesqueness of the half-timbered cottages, and of some
old farm-houses, with the comparatively modern mansions built by
owners of the soil, who have changed far more rapidly than their humbler
dependants. Their memory will at least be preserved in the pages of
this volume, when their place will probably know them no more. The
author has entered upon his task as a labour of love, and has earned the
gratitude of all, and they are legion, who are familiar with the matchless
beauty of a district now brought within an hour of the great Metropolis.

XV

Introduction

It is well that pen and pencil should have combined to chronicle its
attractions. There are names of yeomen and husbandmen still familiar
in some districts, the owners of which can be traced back in old leases
and terriers, even to Domesday Book itself.

The dry and somewhat barren soil, so great an attraction to
residents in the present day, was not coveted by the Norman conquerors,
into whose hands the manors of Earl Harold, comprising nearly the
whole of Surrey, passed after the Battle of Hastings. The dozen or
so of his retainers, among whom the Conqueror parcelled them out,
built but few castles for themselves, and were well content to let their
tenants construct their own residences where the land was fit for tillage,
leaving the remainder undisturbed in all its natural beauty of woodland,
gorse and heather. And thus it comes about that, within thirty-five miles of
London, there are some 600 tracts of open common within the county, left
in much the same condition in which they were when the Thanes, who
were once their owners, died almost to a man for England under the
banner of their chosen monarch. To preserve at least the memory of what
is passing away is a task well worthy of those who love Nature in all her
beauty, and care to recall the daily life, habits, and artistic tastes of bygone
generations.

MIDLETON.

SOME WEST SURREY VILLAGES

CHAPTER I

GOMSHALL AND SHERE

HAVE marked out but a small corner of Surrey for the
purposes of these desultory rambles so small that the
sturdy pedestrian could easily traverse it from east to
west, or north to south, in less than a day, and the
energetic cyclist could ride round its boundaries in the
same space of time with no special exertion. But its
interest and attractiveness to the leisurely rambler are
not to be judged by such standards as these; and, narrow as our limits
may appear on the map, we shall find ourselves amply repaid, I am
confident, for the quiet sauntering, with frequent pause and digression,
that we have in view.

In nothing, indeed, is West Surrey more remarkable than in the
variety of its scenery. Although almost its whole extent may be easily
visible on a clear day from any one of its well-known view-points, we shall
know no monotony of scene. We shall pass from tall chalk cliffs to leafy
glen ; from trim village green to broad seas of furze and heather ; from
the banks of placid streamlets, through thick growths of pine and larch,
to the summits of the sandhills which overlook the wide expanse of the
Weald, with the South Downs looming as a dim blue line on the horizon.
This assuredly is a country to saunter in and to linger in. We profane it
by hastening through it from end to end at racing speed ; and, though in
historical tradition or legendary lore its inheritance may be less than that
with which the wild country of the West or the Border has been endowed,
we shall find that there is not a village nay, scarcely a hamlet which
cannot claim some link with the past, some notable name or memory,

Some West Surrey Villages

some relic of bygone days worthy of passing thought, on the part, at
least, of those over whom Surrey has thrown her spell.

I can promise little of the minute detail which the soul of the antiquary
loveth. Enough for our purpose if the cursory gleanings of a leisurely
rambler serve to indicate something of the human interest that fittingly
supplements the charm with which Nature has endowed the hills and
dales and breezy heathlands of South-West Surrey.

It was Grant Allen's conviction that for 'quiet English scenery in its
highest form of perfection, one could not do better than try the long
straight dale ' along which the Tillingbourne runs from the lower slopes
of Leith Hill to the Wey.

In the same strain of hearty admiration Blackmore wrote in 'Dariel'-
for, as every Surrey reader recognised, the ' Pebblebourne ' of the story
could be no other than our Tillingbourne 'a very lovely valley winding
wherever it ought to wind, and timbered just where it should be, with the
music of a bright brook to make it lively, and the distance of the hills to
keep it sheltered from the world.'

We can, therefore, scarcely hope to choose a better approach than this
valley affords to the fragment of Surrey which we are about to explore.
The pastoral peace, the rich, rural beauty of the vale, flanked on the one
side by the bold escarpment of the chalk downs, and on the other side
by the woods and glens and heaths which cover the northern slopes of the
sandhills, form a fitting prelude to the wilder and still more varied regions
which we shall presently reach.

It would be pleasant to begin this our first ramble high up on the
uplands, where the Abingbourne and the Tillingbourne rise, and to follow
the stream after the two rivulets have joined forces from Abinger village,
perched up some 700 feet above sea-level, down to Abinger Hammer,
whose marshy lowlands were the home of the medieval iron-works of
which we shall hear more anon. But as our present purpose is rigidly
to confine ourselves within the boundaries of South-West Surrey, we will
join the Tillingbourne Valley at the hamlet of Gomshall, just mid-way
between Guildford and Dorking.

It matters little indeed by what route we approach our starting-point
whether by rail from east or west ; on foot over the Downs, across the
wild ' no man's land ' of Netley Heath, and down the steep descent of

Gomshall and Shere

Colekitchen Lane ; by the main-road from Dorking, which carries us past
Westcott and the glorious woods of Wotton whatever our route, our
first impression of the hamlet will be favourable. Seen beneath a summer
sky, its pretty cottages overgrown with jasmine, roses, and honeysuckle,
' its wild waterside vegetation, its great gardens of lush watercress,' charm
the eye at once.

Gomshall has been spared by the speculating builder. Despite a rebuilt
tannery, we can say of it to-day, just as Grant Allen said of it fifteen or
sixteen years ago, that it ' still remains in the bowery, flowery stage of the

NETLEY MILL AND POND.

native English village.' Its mill-pond still retains its old-time aspect-
note that the dam that confines the brook rises almost to a level with the
old tiled roofs of the small buildings below ; and the Tillingbourne in
these parts, happily, is still a pure and peaceful stream, with a profusion
of rushes on its banks, and a rich growth of Canadian water-weed upon
its bottom.

In such surroundings we may well be tempted to linger. But the
hamlet boasts little of historical or antiquarian interest that need detain
us, and as yet we are only on the threshold of the Tillingbourne country.

3 B 2

Some West Surrey Villages

Moreover, we could hardly wish for a pleasanter mile of main-road
rambling than that which lies before us when we bend our steps towards
Shere. Fine elms and beeches meet overhead ; the soft music of the
stream now and again whispers in our ears. Netley Pond, chill and
desolate-looking on a dull winter's day, picturesque and placid beneath
a cloudless sky, is presently to be seen on our left. On our right, on the
slope of the down, we speedily descry Netley House and Netley Woods,
the name they bear carrying us back to the distant days when the property
belonged to the Netley Monastery in Hampshire. Soon we reach Shere.

I can attempt no eulogy of Shere. Often praised, I do not think it has
been overpraised. A more charming scene than that on which one looks
from the churchyard, or the banks of the stream just above the church, it
is difficult to name. But the pen must signally fail in any endeavour to
catalogue characteristics or indicate picturesque nooks and corners which
have again and again tested the artist's skill to the utmost.

For though Shere may not eclipse Newlyn in its ' school ' of artists, it is
essentially the home of art. Is there any other village in the country
which can point as Shere can to a single house which has in turn been
the residence of three Royal Academicians Gilbert, Holl, and Boehm ?
For years past, too, Shere and the surrounding country has proved the
training-ground the nursery, if I may use the term of many a landscape-
painter, notably of the gifted young artists who have made their way
South from Scotland. Sir Arthur Clay resided here for some time, while
Mr. B. W. Leader's intimate connection with the village dates back
nearly to the sixties.

Mr. Leader, whose home at Burrows Cross on the uplands south of
the village was originally built for and owned by Frank Holl, will tell you
that, though thirty or forty years have elapsed since he and Vicat Cole
were first busy hereabouts, the district still possesses the same charm
that it owned then for the landscape-painter. To-day, indeed, it wears
almost the same guise that it wore half a century since, save, perhaps, for
the large new houses scattered here and there among the hills. And
to-day, as of yore, its sandy lanes, its narrow valleys, its wealth of larch
and pine, its bits of gorse-clad common and heath, are prolific in subjects
which never weary. Mr. Leader himself frankly confesses that most of
his well-known Surrey scenes are to be found within a very short
distance of Burrows Cross, and not a few of them actually within its

4

55

O

z

Id

a

-

Gomshall and Shere

grounds. A group of fir-trees not twenty yards from his studio has
figured more than once on the walls of Burlington House.

Shere can boast of other associations of interest besides those which
spring from its connection with recent English art. Even though I
intentionally refrain from any attempt to sketch its history in detail, I
must not omit mention of some names in its annals that were once
prominent in the noisier and busier outside world. And with such topics
in view, to say nothing of the heed which must be paid to its smuggling
and sheep-stealing legends, and its vanished importance as a seat of the
cloth trade, we need make but passing allusion to the familiar contro-
versy as to the spelling of the village place-name.

' Essira ' in Domesday, ' Schyre ' in the twelfth century, ' Schire ' in
the thirteenth, ' Shyre ' in the fourteenth, ' Shere ' in the fifteenth,
' Schyre ' again, as well as ' Shere ' and ' Sheire,' in the sixteenth, ' Shere '
in Aubrey, ' Shire ' in the first Census of 1801, and in Manning and
Bray, ' Sheire ' in the opinion, apparently, of the South-Eastern Railway
Company when they built their ' Gomshall and Sheire ' station, and
' Shere ' again in general acceptance nowadays here unquestionably is
abundant controversial material. But to all such controversies let us cry
truce, and agree that ' Essira Shire Shere ' represents, not ' Shire ' in
the wide sense in which we know the term, but a detached portion or
share of a larger territory.

And having thus cleared the ground of one preliminary stumbling-
block, let us turn for a few minutes to other and more significant vicissi-
tudes in local history. Of these changes we shall find useful outward
and visible hints if we enter the church where judicious repair has
happily taken the place of reckless ' restoration ' and note three of its
most interesting mementos of bygone days. I refer to (i) the mutilated
brass of John Touchet (or Towchat), Lord Audley ; (2) the three red
roses in the scraps of fifteenth-century glass in the window of the north
chapel ; and (3) the Bray, or hemp-breaker, which has served for so many
centuries as the crest of the family of Bray. And to discern the true
significance of these memorials of the past we must dip slightly into the
dry pages of manorial records.

First, then, we note that just at the end of the thirteenth century the
manor of ' Essira ' was split up into two portions : one, comprising a part
of the parish of Shere and the hamlet and park of La Vacharie, was

5

Some West Surrey Villages

known as ' Shere Vachery '; the other, which included a further portion of
Shere, and extended also into the parishes of Cranleigh and Rudgwick,
was known as ' Shere Eboracum.' The former became the property of
the Butlers, the Earls of Ormond, who figure so conspicuously in Irish
history, and was, in fact, their chief English seat. On the other hand,
Shere Eboracum, after many changes of ownership, passed into the hands
of Richard, Duke of York, round whose pretensions to the throne the
Wars of the Roses centred, who, after his defeat at Wakefield, was
hurried to the block, and whose head, crowned in mockery with a paper
diadem, is said to have been impaled on the walls of the city from which
he took his title.

It was fortunate for Shere and its neighbourhood that Surrey, to a
great extent, escaped the devastation which this civil strife wrought in so
many portions of the country. For while Shere Eboracum was in the
hands of the Duke of York, and many of the chief land-owners of the
county were on the same side, the Butlers of Shere Vachery were sturdy
Lancastrians, as the red roses in the parish church serve to remind us
to-day. Thus, living, so to speak, side by side, partly in the same
parish, and with but the thin manorial boundary-line between them, the
adherents of the two households were ranged in opposite camps. Happy
indeed was it if they were not drawn into the fierce combat, which left so
deep a mark in many an English home and homestead.

But though Shere itself seems to have passed through the time of
crisis peacefully enough, it was not long before Jarnes Butler, fifth Earl
of Ormond, of Shere Vachery, met with as sad a fate as his nominal
neighbour, the Duke of York. Within a year, in fact, the Yorkists had
avenged their defeat at Wakefield in the bloody victory of Towton Field,
and Ormond was among the victims who were sent to their death at
Newcastle. Truly those were troublous times, as, indeed, almost the
next page in the annals of Shere Manor further testifies. But before we
pass on, we ought, I think, to note that Shere has some cause to hold the
Butlers in grateful remembrance, for the mansion at Vachery was their
favourite English residence. The house, long since pulled down, was
probably the most important place in the neighbourhood, since, of all the
leading families who owned estates in this part of Surrey, that of the
Butlers seems to have been the only one that was constantly resident.
To them, possibly, Shere owed its early pre-eminence in this portion of the

6

Gomshall and Shere

countryside ; and, more probably than not, their benefactions, with the
impetus which flowed also from the visits of the Canterbury pilgrims,
materially helped forward the work of Church enlargement which bit by
bit transformed the old Norman church mentioned in Domesday into the
building of the size and character we see before us now.

On Ormond's death Shere Vachery was escheated to the Crown, and
by Edward IV. it was granted to Touchet, Lord Audley, whose brass is
the next relic of the past which claims our attention. In the hands of
this family, however, the estate was not destined to remain long ; for
Audley's son and heir, James, ' was a ruined man such as are apt for wild
rebellions,' and became one of the leaders of the Cornish Revolt in 1497.
Marching from the West through Somerset and Wiltshire to Winchester,
and then across Surrey probably by the Pilgrims' Way the rebels
passed the last resting-place of their leader's father in Shere Church
on their way to Blackhcath. There the final fight took place. The
insurgents were decisively beaten ; Audley was taken prisoner, led from
Newgate to Tower Hill in a paper coat torn and painted with his arms
reversed, and there beheaded.

High among Henry VII. 's advisers at this time was Sir Reginald Bray,
against whom the rebels, in their outcry against taxation, were loud in
their clamour. It seems probable that Sir Reginald came into possession
of the Manor of Shere some little time before James Touchet met a
traitor's death on Tower Hill. But, whatever the exact date of this
transfer, it was at this juncture, and, broadly, under these circumstances,
that the close connection was established between the family of Bray and
the parish of Shere which is indicated in the hemp-breaker in the fragments
of old glass still to be seen in the parish church, and which has since been
maintained in unbroken succession for more than four centuries.

Of Reginald Bray himself, as well as of one of his descendants to
whom Surrey folk will always be indebted, I shall have more to say
hereafter. But we must not quit the church without a passing glance at
two other memorials upon its walls. The brass of Robert Sawcliffe, or
Scarcliffe, who was Rector of the parish at the beginning of the fifteenth
century, perpetuates the memory of a singularly kindly parson. In his
will one of many wills containing quaint bequests by former residents
which have been preserved he provided that his bier should be covered
with just 24 yards no more and no less of black cloth, which after his

7

Some West Surrey Villages

funeral should be given to poor parishioners to pray for his soul and the
souls of his benefactors. Further, two torches, of 5 pounds each, were
to be kept burning, one at the head, the other at the foot, of his tomb;
and, finally, after other legacies had been provided for, the residue of his
goods was to be sold and distributed either to poor old couples burdened
with large families or to poor maids for their marriage. Evidently Parson
Sawcliffe, just four centuries ago, had discerned little social difficult.es
among his flock which are with us to this day ; and for this kindly thought
he certainly deserved to have the 'honest priest to sing for his soul for a
year and longer, if possible, in the church of Schyre,' for whom provis
was also made in his last will and testament.

Finally, we cannot fail to observe the tablet which tells us how a
certain Mr Edward Woods, late of Kingston, provided, in 1857, for a
curious observance on St. Valentine's Day which is still maintained.
He left to this parish,' we read, ' 500 in the Three per Cent. Consols '
-alas ! the Three per Cent, is now sadly out of date-' 2 a year each to
seven widows, and i to the minister to preach a sermon on the i 4 th o

February for ever.'

It is quite time, however, to turn from the manor and its records, and
the church and its memorials, to the village life of Shere in the past.
Sequestered as the parish is and must always have been, its quietude was
broken from time to time. The summer pilgrims to and from Canterbury
who sauntered along the valley between Guildford and Dorking of course
made Shere one of their halting-places. Probably the rough crosses s<
to be detected on the chalk stones of the south doorway were wrough
by their daggers ; and, close to the quatrefoil and hagioscope on the north
wall of the chancel, you may also discern the threshold and entrance-
as the Rev H. R. Ware conjectures*-to the hermit's cell into wh.ch the
quatrefoil opened. Here some worthy anchorite may have passed his
days, pleading for alms whilst keeping constant watch upon tl

of the church. .

After the stir and bustle caused by the recurring visits of the pilgrims
had died away, Shere Churchyard, in keeping with the general custo
of the Middle Ages, was frequently the scene of high revels. The church-
wardens' accounts, happily preserved, from Henry VI.'s reign to nearly
the end of that of Elizabeth, make frequent mention of these festivit
* See ' Three Surrey Churches.'

A GLIMPSE OF SHERK CHURCH.

Tt/aa f. 8

Gomshall and Shere

Thus, we read of a ' wake ' on the Day of Pentecost which brought in
565. no small sum, be it remembered, in those days. Again, the ' King-
game ' was played with profit at least twice whilst Henry VIII. was on
the throne. On ' Hokmonday ' 8s. was received from the collection of
pennies by the married women ; while at a ' drinking ' made by one John
Redford at his own expense no less than 7 33. <jd. was collected from
strangers attending at his instance.

Shere, however, was not wholly given over to revelry. Aubrey
whose perambulations in Surrey began in 1673, and extended over twenty
years tells us that the village was ' considerable for the fustian weavers,
and has been so anciently.' Nay, more, he recorded the legend that the
parsonage was ' built on wooll-packs, in the same manner that Our
Lady's Church at Salisbury was ; that it is likely enough some tax might
be laid on the woolpacks towards the building of it.' As to this latter
theory, there is, perhaps, something to be said for the explanation one
writer has suggested, that the foundations of the house may have been
laid on woolsacks filled with concrete. However this may be, we know,
of course, that the cloth trade, which flourished in Guildford in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, extended into several of the neigh-
bouring villages, and Shere among the number probably found in it a
source of profit, or at least a means of subsistence for the fair-sized com-
munity which had gathered round the church.

In Shere, as in Guildford, the time came when this industry passed
away. In later years the village could boast of a small market, and resi-
dents still living can recall the days when, as a relic of market-day
customs, the farmers would meet at the White Horse once a week to
learn the news from the weekly paper.

Less than a century ago smuggling and sheep-stealing were not
unknown in the district. London Lane which starts almost from the
centre of the village to climb the steep face of the Downs was just the
type of unfrequented bypath which best served the purpose of the
illegitimate trader, whose pack-horse, with his burden of contraband
goods, stealthily made his way from the coast over the South Downs and
through the forest. Mr. Askew, well informed as he is in all that relates
to Shere's past, can throw no light upon the history of the exceptionally
capacious cellars of his interesting old house, the White Horse. Hut
bearing in mind the reputation which Shere and Albury enjoyed during

Some West Surrey Villages

the latter part of the reign of the third George, we may not unreasonably
assume that such spacious and convenient hiding-places as these were
turned to account for other than purely agricultural purposes.

Of these sheep-stealing days ' A Son of the Marshes ' has given us
some interesting stories in more than one of his charming volumes ; and
although he is careful not to identify persons or places concerned, we may
not be far astray if we locate one incident he relates in the wild country
which was to be found within living memory in the immediate neighbour-
hood of Shere. It is Maurice, an old woodman, who tells the story of the
' desprit gang in the forest,' banded together for housebreaking, smuggling,
sheep-stealing, and ' all that wur bad,' and of their ultimate capture
when the gentry round at last made up their minds to hunt them down
like foxes. In Maurice's words : ' One o' they ' the gentry ' drove up
to London in his carriage, an' he see the head people at Bow Street his
valet it was told us and a while arter that some new, rough-lookin'
customers was sin moochin' an' wanderin' round. To look at, they was
a more desprit-lookin' lot than the old uns. They got in tow with 'em
quick, too, and told 'em as they could take all as they could git, and would
find 'em a better price by a long way than what they'd bin gettin'. They
brought fast-trottin' ponies an' light spring-carts to take the game an'
other things away. Some o' th' old gang, just to see what stuff the new
chums was made on in case a scrimmage came, kicked up a row an' hit
some on 'em. They was soon satisfied, however, fur they hit out most
terrible, an' some on 'em they throwed up on their backs, with a turn o'
the foot like, enuf to bust 'em. Arter that they would do anything to
please 'em, and the new uns, jest to prove to 'em as all was right an'
square, turned gold over to 'em, as earnest for the jobs they had before
'em. When everything was ready for action like, they planned a house-
breakin' job for one thing, an' a game-harryin' bit fur another, all on it
to come off the same night. The night afore that they'd done some
sheep-stealin'. They was bold over it, fur they killed 'em in the fold an'
they dressed 'em there, an' left the skins. The night come, an' they was
full swing at their bad work, with the ponies and carts close handy, when
a whistle was blowed. All at once the new mates collared 'em an' clapped
a pistol to the head o' each on 'em. Other men rushed up from some
hidin'-place, and the handcuffs was on 'em in a jiff afore they know'd
where they was. 'Twas a rum lot o' game the carts took off that night.'

a
-
x

Gomshall and Shere

Botany Bay was the result for the culprits ; the ' foresters,' in
Maurice's words, were able for the first time for many years to sleep in
peace, and Shere itself, needless to say, has long been as law-abiding as
any parish in the county of Surrey.

Long as we have dallied in Shere, we must not quit it without refer-
ence to one further interesting name and memory. The birthplace of one
historian, the village subsequently became the home of another widely
famous man of letters. Seven years before George Crete's death his
wife chose as their country residence a modest house with a few acres of
land on the high ground south of the railway, where the latter is crossed
by the road from Shere to Ewhurst. It was named The Ridgeway, after
Mrs. Crete's birthplace, and in it both the historian and his widow spent
their closing days. An attractive, quiet retreat it no doubt was for a City
banker, who, while eminent also as a writer, a philosopher, a politician,
was always shy. And what memories of the great Reform struggle, of
the early fight for the ballot, of the rejoicings in 'History Hut' on
the completion of her husband's ' History of Greece,' of Mendelssohn,
Chopin, Liszt, Jenny Lind, and Ary Scheffer, to name only a few of her
distinguished friends, Mrs. Grote brought with her to this Surrey home.
To the last she retained her masterful self-reliance, her almost over-
powering individuality, and her true kindness of heart. ' She reigned
wherever she went,' we are told.

In Shere she was respected and admired, and in a sense feared. To
the villagers to this day she is ' Madame Grote ' of august memory. The
old-fashioned yellow carriage in which she constantly drove was a familiar
subject of comment, and some Guildfordians to-day can still recall her
visits to the town, and the air of queenly supremacy with which she
accepted her husband's deferential homage as he escorted her to and
from her carriage. When at the ripe age of eighty-seven she entered into
her rest, her body was borne to Shere Churchyard by her village neigh-
bours, the older generation of whom still have a kindly place for her in
their thoughts.

M c 2

CHAPTER II

REGINALD BRAY AND WILLIAM BRAY

HAVE incidentally noted in the preceding chapter the
close and unbroken connection which has existed for
over four centuries between the family of Bray and the
manor and parish of Shere. In this long record two
names are specially conspicuous, and there would be
but scant excuse if we quitted the village without
gossiping awhile concerning the life-work of both
Reginald and William Bray.

Reginald Bray, on whom, as we have seen, Henry VII. bestowed the
manor, was much more than a Surrey squire. Warrior and church-builder,
courtier and politician, his crest is fully entitled to the prominence it
enjoys in Westminster Abbey and St. George's Chapel, Windsor. We
can trace the story of his career only in outline from the records that
have come down to us. But even in this rough form it is full of incident
and interest, and not without the element of romance so often to be found
in the lives of the strong men who won their way to the front in the
stirring days at the close of the Wars of the Roses and the founding of
the Tudor dynasty.

The part that Bray played in those epoch-making changes was all the
more noteworthy, since he owed his advancement mainly to his own merit.
Belonging to a family of some standing in Bedfordshire and Bucks, his
fortunes seem to have been linked early in life with those of the Countess
of Richmond. We know, at least, that he was receiver-general and
steward of the household to her second husband, Sir Henry Stafford, and
the degree to which he had earned the confidence of the Countess and her
connections secured him his first opportunity of winning distinction on a
wider field. This opportunity arose when Morton, Bishop of Ely, con-
ceived, with the Duke of Buckingham, the daring scheme of uniting the

Reginald Bray and William Bray

discontented Yorkists with the remnants of the Lancastrian party by the
marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the Earl of Richmond, and the latter's
advancement to the throne. Morton was then the Duke's prisoner at
Brecknock, and bray was recommended by the Bishop for the communica-
tion of the affair to the Countess as an old friend who was in her service,
' a man sober, secret, and well-witted, whose prudent policy had compassed
matters of great importance.' To Brecknock, accordingly, Bray was
summoned, and there the design was first disclosed to him. He returned
to the Countess, and, having obtained her consent to the marriage, was

THE URAV CHAPEL, ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR.

sent by her on a secret mission to Henry in Brittany to prepare him for
the high honour in store for him if he would swear to marry Elizabeth
of York.

At the outset all seemed to go well with the scheme and Bray's part
in it. But, as we all know, the first attempt to carry it fully into effect,
under Buckingham's leadership, utterly failed. Henry, unable even to
land, was driven back to Brittany ; Buckingham paid the penalty of his
failure with his head. For a time the prospect seemed quite hopeless. t .
The story even got abroad that Richard meant to marry Elizabeth himself;

'3

Some West Surrey Villages

while Henry, influenced possibly by this rumour, contemplated wedding
a sister of Sir W. Herbert, who was all-powerful in Wales.

Richard, however, was compelled by popular clamour to disown the
marriage attributed to him, and Henry's relations and supporters Bray
among them saw their opportunity as the popular discontent with
Richard's rule grew in bitterness and volume. At length the die was cast,
and Henry landed at Milford Haven and advanced into Leicestershire.

Now, circumstances combined to make Bray's position at this juncture
distinctly critical. After the .abortive Buckingham revolt his mistress,
who had married Lord Stanley as her third husband, had been deprived
of her lands by Richard for conspiring in her son's favour. Richard,
however, had thought it politic to treat the Stanleys as loyal friends.
Accordingly Lady Margaret's name was not included in the general act
of attainder, but her husband was granted the use of her lands for life,
provided he kept his wife ' securely in some quiet place, without any
servant or company,' that she might not stir up more intrigues. Bray,
however, remained faithful to his mistress and Stanley.

Naturally enough, Richard, directly after Henry had landed, bethought
him of Margaret and her household. He ordered Stanley to repair to
him at Nottingham, or send his son Lord Strange in his place. When
the son was sent, the King intimated to the father that his presence also
would be required, as the case was urgent. Lord Stanley pleaded sickness,
and Richard's suspicions, already strong, were amply confirmed when
Lord Strange, after vainly attempting to escape, confessed that the whole
family had been in communication with the enemy. Still, however, he
averred that his father intended to join the King's standard, and he
consented to remain as hostage for his father's loyalty.

Under these conditions Stanley, with his household, took care to
preserve the appearance of good faith as long as it was possible to do
so. But his real intentions were apparent enough to Richard just before
Bosworth, when the latter asked for immediate help from the Earl and
was refused. The King's reply was to order Lord Strange to be beheaded
forthwith. Fortunately, some of his attendants procured a respite of the
sentence until the issue of the battle had been declared. The issue was
not long in doubt, and doubt was changed to certainty when Stanley,
who had cautiously held aloof at the outset, deemed it safe to throw in
his lot with Henry.

14

Reginald Bray and William Bray

The sequel is familiar enough to all of us. It was Reginald Bray
who found the King's crown in a hawthorn bush, and it was Stanley who
placed it on Henry's head on the battle-field, while the men raised the
memorable and significant salute, ' Henry ! King Henry ! King Henry !'

Bray's services were promptly and generously rewarded. At Henry's
coronation he was created a Knight of the Bath. Within a year he was
appointed keeper for life of the royal parks at Guildford, Henley and
Pirbright. Moreover, the King's full confidence thus won was retained to
the last nay, was strengthened as the years passed. He and Morton
and Fox (afterwards Bishop of Winchester, of whom we are reminded
at Farnham Castle by the tower which still bears his name) were the
leading members of the King's Council ; and Bray's position in this
triumvirate was so conspicuous that, as we have seen in the case of the
Cornish revolt, whenever a tax was felt to be offensive, the people were
apt to blame him for it. Bacon, too, has left it on record that Bray had
the greatest freedom with the King of any counsellor, although he signifi-
cantly adds that it was ' but a freedom the better to set off flattery.'
Both Bacon and popular opinion seem, however, to have been unjust to
Bray. There is good reason for believing that he and Morton were, in
fact, the two counsellors who dared to remonstrate, and did actually
remonstrate, most freely with Henry on any act of injustice.

On the whole, therefore, I fancy we may legitimately think of Bray,
the King's counsellor, in the kindly words of Hall : ' a very father of his
country, a safe and grave person, and a fervent lover of justice, insomuch
that if anything had been done against good law or equitie, he would
after a humble fassion plainly reprehende the King, and give him good
advertesement how to reforme that offence and to be more circumspect
in another lyke case.'

Whatever our verdict on Bray, Henry, it is clear, both trusted and
enriched him. He was endowed with many an estate, and promoted to
many a high and profitable office ; and the wealth and the influence thus
obtained he turned to account in at least one direction for which we have
cause to thank him to-day. Both St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and
Henry VI I. 's Chapel, Westminster, owe much to his architectural taste
and skill. In the case of the former he seems to have been chiefly
responsible for the carrying out of the improvements ordered by the King.
His arms and device are to be seen again and again in the ceiling and the

'5

Some West Surrey Villages

windows. Some of the nails in the doors have hemp-breakers for their
heads. The chapel in the middle of the south aisle, known to-day as the
Bray Chapel, was built by him to receive his body, and in his will he
provided that his executors should, ' with all the goods and issues and
profits of his lands, make and perform the new works of the body of the
said church, and thoroughly finish them according to the form and intent
of the foundation.' He left, too, a benefaction of 40 marks a year to the
Dean and Canons for distribution among ' 13 poor men and women at the
door of the said chapel.'

Bray, I think we shall all feel, well earned the place of honour
accorded to both his name and his body in the most beautiful of the royal
chapels of this country. But not less fitting is it that his memory should
be linked with Henry VII. 's chapel at Westminster. It is not merely
that he was the official architect of the chapel, and as such laid the
foundation-stones, in conjunction with the prior and others, ' at a quarter
to three,' as the records precisely relate, on January 24, 1503 though he
died long before the work was complete. But, as Dean Stanley has
pointed out, the chapel itself, in so much of its adornment, typifies the
union of Henry's right of conquest with his claim of hereditary descent.
On the one hand it is a glorification of the victory of Bosworth ; on the
other hand, like King's College Chapel at Cambridge, it asserts everywhere
memories which carry us back to John of Gaunt.

And when we think of Bray's first journey to Brecknock, to be there
apprised of the union of the two Roses which Morton and Buckingham
had conceived ; of his secret mission to Brittany to win Henry's adhesion
to the scheme ; and, finally, of the curious turn in Fortune's wheel which
made him the finder of the crown thus boldly won, we can scarcely help
feeling that the planning of such a sanctuary could not have been
entrusted to more appropriate hands than his.

We have wandered far from Shere and its peaceful valley in thus
briefly tracing the fortunes of the Lord of the Manor to whom the first of
the Tudor Sovereigns was much indebted. But though we may have
no reason to think that Reginald Bray's architectural talents were ever
exhibited on Shere Church, it is pleasant to trace the connecting-links
which may be said to exist between this Surrey valley and church and the
stately piles at Windsor and Westminster.

Nor ought we to pass on without recalling the debt due to another

16

WIM.IAM BRAY IN HIS 97 FH YEAR.

JOINT AUTHOR up MANNIS; AND BRAY'S ' HISTOKV OP SUKKBY.

(From the portrait painted and engraved by John I.inm-11.)

Reginald Bray and William Bray

member of the same family, whose virtues are eulogized on a memorial
tablet on the south wall of the church. For when we in Surrey refer to
our Brayley or our Murray or our local guide - book, we are still
profiting by the labours of William Bray. To Manning and Bray's
history of the county, which first saw the light in three folio volumes
in 1809 to 1814, every student of Surrey's past must sooner or later turn.

Compared with the career of his illustrious ancestor, William Bray's
life was singularly uneventful. Born in Shere in 1736, he became the
articled pupil of John Martyr, a prominent solicitor in Guildford, and,
after practising on his own account in London, he was appointed a clerk
of the Board of Green Cloth, through the good offices of John Evelyn of
Wotton. All through his life his leisure hours were given to literary and
antiquarian studies. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and
a frequent contributor to its journal. But though he published early in
life an account of his journeyings in the Midlands and the North, he was
well advanced in years before he employed himself upon the work with
which his name is chiefly associated. Late in the eighteenth century his
friend, Dr. Owen Manning, Vicar of Godalming and Rector of Peper
Harow, conceived the project of compiling the first comprehensive history
of Surrey which had been attempted since Aubrey's gossipy pages were
penned. Manning, however, died with the greater port of his task still
undone. Bray undertook to complete it. The labour involved was great,
and Bray performed it with the utmost conscientiousness. Thirteen or
fourteen years elapsed before the last sheets left the printer's hands.
Meanwhile Bray had visited every parish and church in the county, and
as the outcome of his zeal and research produced a history which ranks
to this day among the best works of its class and period in our language.
This was the achievement, we should remember, of a septuagenarian
scholar, for Bray was in his sixty-fifth year when Manning died, and
seventy-eight when the history which bears their joint name was com-
plete.

Even now, however, Bray was not content to be idle. No sooner was
the history out of hand than he set to work upon the preparation of the
memoirs of his neighbour and patron Evelyn. This, again, was no
trivial undertaking, for John Evelyn's diary extended over 700 quarto
pages ' in a very small, close hand,' besides a smaller volume dealing with
the last nine years of his life. Practically the whole of this mass of

17 D

Some West Surrey Villages

matter was transcribed by Bray with his own hand between his eightieth
and eighty-third birthday. How can we who live in a shorthand and
type-writing generation withhold a meed of genuine admiration for the
patient industry of this venerable lawyer-scholar ?

William Bray himself was also a diarist, in deference to the fashion of
his time. In his careful notes we read of the meetings of a social club
which had its rendezvous from time to time at Wotton Hatch and
Dorking, and we get glimpses, too, of personal travelling expenses in
suggestive contrast to present-day charges. Sixpence for breakfast at the
Jolly Farmer, Bramley ; i 45. for a fortnight's board and lodging in
London ; 2s. for dinner and wine at the King's Head, Dorking. Conceive
the feelings of a Surrey squire nowadays if confronted with hotel or club
tariff framed on this modest scale.

18

CHAPTER III

HKNRY DKUMMOND AND ALBUKY

HEN we ramble on from Shere to Albury, let us leave
the main-road and turn to the left by the White
Horse along the lane known as Lower Street. Pass-
ing many a quaint old cottage, we follow the course
of the Tillingbourne until we come to a foot-bridge
across the stream. Here we note the fine avenue of
limes which formerly led to the ' extraordinary good
parsonage ' mentioned by Aubrey as ' encompassed about with a large
and deep mote' full of fish. We, however, cross this stream, and
climb the hilly lane for a short distance ; then, bearing to the left, we
take a path which leads through Silverhill Wood, a charming bit of
woodland on the outskirts of Albury Park. Presently we have a glimpse
of the roof and chimneys of the mansion, and then, as we dip down
towards the main-road, the 'cathedral' of the Catholic Apostolic Church
comes in view.

Involuntarily the question arises, How is it that this sequestered spot
in the Tillingbourne Valley, as ' sweetly environed ' as Wotton itself ' with
delicious streams and venerable woods," became ' a visible kind of Bethel '
for a religious body which at one time sought and hoped to implant its
faith throughout Christendom ? The answer is found in the curious fate
which brought together two notable figures in English life seventy
years ago.

Henry Drummond and Edward Irving had little enough in common
when the former was a boy at Harrow and the latter one of Adam Hope's
scholars in the Annan Academy. But by the inscrutable decree of fate
they were to meet under the roof of Albury House in a series of conferences
destined to issue in the founding of a new Church, which, whatever the
final judgment passed upon its claims, must always have a place in the

19 n 2

Some West Surrey Villages

history of English religious thought. To us this strange development
has a special interest, inasmuch as we certainly cannot fully know and
understand the Albury of to-day unless we know also something of the
part which Drummond played in its history.

Henry Drummond, in Carlyle's words, was a ' singular mixture of the
saint, the wit, and the philosopher'; his strongly-marked individuality
ran into so many opposite extremes that there was some truth in the
saying that ' his right hand was always at war with his left.' When he
bought Albury in 1819, he had barely reached the prime of life ; but he
was already a man of note. At the head of the banking firm which bore
his name, and which had been founded by his ancestors for the secret
arranging of the Jacobean finances, he possessed both wealth and social
position. To these inherited advantages were added exceptional intellectual
gifts, a restless energy which carried him into many different spheres of
activity, and a sense of duty which prompted him, in Mrs. Oliphant's
words, from his youth up, to dedicate everything he had and was to the
service of God as that appeared to his vivid and peculiar apprehension.
Independent in judgment at times wayward and captious to a degree
only possible to a man born to great riches ; in full touch with the world
of society, of finance, and of politics he had already sat for three years
in the House of Commons for the borough of Plympton Earle yet never
more deeply engrossed than when studying the mysteries of faith ; caustic
in his criticisms of the foibles and superstitions of others, yet prepared
himself to follow whithersoever his own convictions might lead him,
Drummond was a marked and powerful personality in whatever circles
he moved.

Early in life Drummond had attached himself to the ministry of
Edward Irving, and had figured in the remarkable congregation which
the great Scotch preacher had gathered round him in Hatton Garden.
But the two men were not brought into close sympathy until Irving's
task in translating ' Ben Ezra ' began to strengthen his belief that the
Second Advent was at hand, and to spur him on to the zealous study
of prophecy in the light of this conviction. Kindled by the same zeal,
Drummond invited Irving and other ministers and laymen who were
interested in the immediate fulfilment of prophecy to meet beneath his
roof at Albury in Advent, 1826, 'to compare views with respect to the
prospects of the Church at the present crisis.' Irving tells the story of

Henry Drummond and Albury

the gathering with many a characteristic touch in the preface to ' Ben

Ezra ' :

' In answer to this honourable summons, there assembled about twenty
men of every rank, and Church, and orthodox communion in these realms ;
and, in honour of our meeting, God so ordered it that Joseph Wolff, the
Jewish missionary, a son of Abraham and brother of our Lord, both
according to the flesh and according to faith, should also be of the number.
And here for eight days, under the roof of Henry Drummond, Esq., the
present High Sheriff of the county, and under the moderation of the

ALBURV HOUSE IN DRUMMOND'S TIME.
(From an old engraving.)

Rev. Hugh M'Neile, the Rector of the parish of Albury, we spent six full
days in close and laborious examination of the Scriptures.'

Irving proceeds to show how a day was set apart for each subject, and
how the labour of each day was divided into three parts. First came a
' morning diet ' before breakfast, when the subject of the day was ' opened '
by a member of the party previously chosen. At the mid-day diet at
eleven o'clock, after prayer (generally by Drummond), each member was
asked to state his convictions on the subject laid before them in the
morning. This diet lasted four, and sometimes almost five, hours, and
after dinner the members proceeded ' to the work of winding up and

21

Some West Surrey Villages

concluding the whole subject, but in a more easy and familiar manner, as
being seated round the fire of the great library room.'

We shall do both Drummond and Irving injustice if we fail to remember
that the studies to which they set themselves appealed also with special
force to many of the most devout Christians of the day. For this parliament
of prophecy was essentially a product of the times. It was one sign of the
religious awakening which in various forms followed after a long period
of torpor, and which began to be manifest when the upheavals and the
storm and stress of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic struggle
gradually died away.

Into the movement which Irving's ardour first inspired, and whose
birthplace was, as we have seen, the library of Albury House, Drummond
threw himself heart and soul. The help of his purse, of his invaluable
social influence, and his untiring energy, was freely given to the new cause.
But some wholly unlooked-for developments speedily took place, and
those members of the orthodox Evangelical party who had been most in
sympathy with the Albury studies found their credulity and their loyalty
tested by the strange manifestations of the gifts of tongues which were
reported first in Scotland and subsequently in London among Irving's
own flock.

Men of more moderate views fell away ; the conference at Albury in
July, 1830, was the last of the series; dissensions and difficulties ensued.
Irving's expulsion from the Presbyterian Church further precipitated
matters, and finally he and his sympathizers and adherents drifted together,
and assumed a definite organization as a distinct religious body, firm in
its belief in the imminence of the Second Advent not less firm in its
belief at that time in ' miraculous ' manifestations of which it is difficult
for most of us nowadays to read without a smile. In such a body as this
Drummond's influence speedily proved great, if not actually paramount.
To him, as to Cardale, Irving himself then, alas ! nearing the end of his
too strenuous life was subordinate.

On subsequent incidents in the early history of the new Church it is,
of course, unnecessary to dwell here ; but developments in Albury call
for a brief notice. In the first conferences under the Squire's roof the
Rev. H. M'Neile, a prominent Evangelical, who was then Rector of the
parish, and afterwards Dean of Ripon, had taken part. But he had
drawn back when the study of the prophets had produced ' prophesyings '

22

Henry Drummond and Albury

on the part of the students, and later on the movement was to have in
him a severe, although never a bitter, critic. So it came about that at
Albury itself Mr. Drummond and the friends of the same type of thought
that he gathered round him there found themselves without any definite
mission and authority. The need was met by Drummond's appointment

THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CATHEDRAL, ALBURV.

as pastor of the church at Albury at a gathering of the faithful at Newman
Street, and by his subsequent elevation to the rank of ' Angel.'

To the village and parish of Albury the Squire's acceptance of the new
faith necessarily meant much. We see one result in the cathedral close
by the park gates, erected at Drummond's cost ; we see another in the
abandonment of the old parish church within the park, and the provision

23

Some West Surrey Villages

of a new church, also at Drummond's expense, almost in the centre of the
village, as to which I shall have more to say presently. And even to this
day, despite the havoc death has wrought in the ranks of the original
members and leaders of the Church, Albury with its cathedral, its chapter-
house, and the picturesque timber houses adjoining, retains its special
pre-eminence as a chief centre of the organization.

From Drummond the religious enthusiast let us turn to Drummond
the politician. There is certainly no reason for suggesting that his faith
in the distinctive doctrines of the Catholic Apostolic Church ever waned.
On the contrary, he was ever active in its behalf. He travelled almost
from one end of Europe to the other for the furtherance of its aims, and
he most munificently aided in the erection of the Gordon Square
Cathedral. And yet, to say the least, it is a little curious to find that,
shortly after posting down to the Archbishop of York at Nuneham in
1836 to warn him of the approaching end of the world, Drummond was
ready and eager to re-enter political life. He plunged with characteristic
ardour into the Free Trade controversy in 1841. In a pamphlet which
ran through several editions he confidently challenged McCulloch's plea
for the repeal of the Corn Laws. Here are a few characteristic passages
from it, interesting, I think, to us even now from the insight they give
into the political standpoint of a man who in some respects was head and
shoulders above many of his contemporaries :

' If corn were introduced duty-free to-morrow, it is doubtful whether
the really poor people would benefit by it for six months.'

'The landlords have done one foolish thing already in allowing the
manufacturers to be admitted into the House of Commons on the same
footing as themselves, and now they are to be bullied or coaxed, as the
case may be, into a similar act of suicide.'

' Cheap postage ! The cost of letters was reduced so as to make a
serious defalcation in the revenue, whilst the gain goes directly into the
pockets of rich merchants, and benefits them alone ; the most foolish
measure that was ever adopted, and which ought to be instantly repealed
and the old system restored.'

' In 1830 the war was begun of numbers against property. This is the
root of the matter, privileged classes or not, equal or exclusive rights ;
equality of rights constitutes a republic; privileged classes constitute a
monarchy ; for a monarchy without privileged classes having exclusive

24

HENRY DRUMMONI), OK ALBURY PARK, M.P. FOR WEST SURREY, 1847-1860.
(From a photograph by Lloyd, of Allmry.)

Henry Drummond and Albury

rights is the English translation of the motto of the baseless dynasty of
Louis Philippe, " Un trone entoure" d'institutions r^publicaines."

How strangely this echo of a far-off controversy sounds in our ears
to-day !

But pamphleteering did not long content Drummond. Six years later
(1847) he re-entered Parliament as one of the members for West Surrey, and
this seat he retained though not without two stiff contests till his death
in 1860. Even in his election addresses Drummond showed his individu-
ality. Thus, in 1852, when he and Mr. Evelyn were being strenuously
opposed by Colonel Challoner, of Portnall Park, Chertsey, he dealt with
the two burning topics of the day in a style which was essentially his own.
The electors were told that the suddenness with which the Corn Laws were
repealed had ' produced the ruin of many farmers and distress to most
landlords ; but since the labouring classes were never so well off as at
present, no Minister dare attempt to reimpose a Bread Tax. We had a
right, however, to expect that . . . the beverage of the people should be
as free from taxation as their bread ' in other words, that the duty on
malt should be reduced. For the rest, Drummond was mainly concerned
with the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. He was stern to resist the ' recent
aggression of the Pope upon the Prerogative of the Crown,' and the
arguments by which, as he alleged, it was supported. ' The title of the
House of Brunswick to the Throne, every institution in the country, the
domestic peace of each family, can be secured only by putting down these
arrogant claims.'

His opponents in their election squibs did not spare Drummond's
rhetoric. They twitted him with his

' Outlandish jargon,

So hard to believe, and known but to few.
Which fell on the ear without meaning,
Unlike the words firm of the men of true Blue.'

Party feeling ran high in these days, and there were election disturbances
at Farnham and Godalming, provoked, as Colonel Challoner alleged, by
' hired gangs armed with bludgeons.'

But Drummond's personal popularity had not even Cobbett declared
that he knew no man in England more worthy of his estate ? always
stood him in good stead in Surrey, and five years later he again success-
fully resisted the attack of the ' men of true Blue.'

25 K

Some West Surrey Villages

In the House of Commons his position was in some respects unique.
He spoke frequently and on many topics as his collected speeches,
edited by the late Duke of Northumberland, attest and he was always
listened to with respect and attention. He was fundamentally a Tory of
the old school, but in every act and word his independence of judgment
asserted itself. Whatever Ministry was in power, his seat was the corner
one below the gangway on the Ministerial side. Similarly, he always
voted for the Budget, by whatever party it might be introduced, on the
broad principle that the Government of the country must be carried on.
' I support every Government,' he once told his constituents in Surrey.
' Upon the majority of subjects they alone have sufficient information to
enable them to decide ; and it is safer to cast my lot on the side of
information than on the side of fidgety ignorance.' There was much
that was paradoxical in his attitude towards some of the topics of the
day. While he offended Protestants by his assertion of doctrine that
seemed to them essentially Romish, he was, as we have seen, violently
opposed to Papal supremacy in any shape or form. Himself a link
between the territorial and moneyed aristocracy, he applied the same
caustic wit to venal voters and to Dukes and Knights of the Garter.
And let me in justice add that while strenuously upholding the rights of
property, no one more frankly recognised or more faithfully discharged its
duties. He lived up to the picture he himself conceived of the landowner
who was continually employed improving his estate, and continually
looking beyond his own personal interest in it.

As an orator he could in his own way easily hold his own with the
leading speakers of the day witness his encounters with John Bright as
to the Crimean War. We can, perhaps, best realize something of the
effect his speeches produced in the House of Commons from the graphic
pen-picture given in the Morning Star forty years ago by one who knew
him well :

' A tall, slender, white-haired figure, perfectly upright, and scrupulously
attired in black . . . delivering slowly, almost inatidibly, and with perfect
gravity, a speech that proclaimed an entirely independent position. . . .
Through lips that hardly seemed to part there came trickling forth a thin
but sparkling stream of sententious periods, full of humour and sarcasm,
learning and folly, boldness and timidity, bigotry and charity, and every-
thing antithetical. The strongest contrast of all seemed that between the

26

Henry Drummond and Albury

speaker and his hearers. Everybody but himself was excited by laughter,
or anger, or pleasure ; he alone seemed perfectly unmoved a speaking
statue, shaking the sides of all men within hearing, and some who could
not hear caught the contagion of laughter.'

Always a free-lance, always paradoxical and antithetical, always some-
what lacking in ballast, Drummond never acquired the power in politics

NEAR THE CATHEDRAL, ALUURV.

which his talents, his social position, and his genuine earnestness might
have won for him. But there was so much that was notable and
picturesque in his personality, and so much that was attractive and
admirable in his disposition, that his memory will always be affectionately
respected in Albury and West Surrey.

E 2

CHAPTER IV

ALBURY PARK AND VILLAGE

HAVE in the previous chapter briefly sketched the career
and character of Henry Drummond, not only because
he was one of the most interesting personalities in
West Surrey fifty years ago, but also because, as I
have already hinted, the Albury of to-day so visibly
bears the impress of his influence. But Albury Park,
to the borders of which our ramble from Shere has
brought us, has historical associations which date back long before his
days and the founding of the Catholic Apostolic Church. To-day the
property of the Percys, by the marriage of Drummond'sVeldest daughter
with the late Duke of Northumberland, the estate was bought in the
middle of the sixteenth century by the Howards, who still hold land in
other parts of the county from which they take their title of Earl of
Surrey. The purchaser was Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, whose
fame is perpetuated by the collection of Arundelian marbles. But the
Earl, owing possibly to his prodigality in the latter connection, was short
of cash, and, the purchase - money for Albury not having been paid,
the mortgagee took possession. However, matters were subsequently
arranged satisfactorily, and a few years later we find Henry Howard,
who afterwards succeeded his brother as the sixth Duke of Norfolk,
owning and beautifying the property.

And here we are broughHn touch with another familiar Surrey name.
An intimate friendship had long existed between the Evelyns and the
Howards. Evelyn tells us how he and Henry Howard lodged, together at
Padua, and ' lived very nobly ' ; how, too, his son John had been brought
up among the Howards' children at Arundel House until, ' for feare of
perverting him in the Catholic religion,' he was forced to take him home.
And this friendship had a twofold sequel of some interest to us in Surrey

Albury Park and Vilkge

as well as to Oxford. To quote the diarist's own record, when Evelyn
went to Arundel House, he found that the precious monuments which his
friend's grandfather had gathered with so much cost and industry ' were
miserably neglected, scattered up and down the garden and other parts
of the house, and, moreover, exceedingly impaired by the corrosive air
of London.' Accordingly, just as he had induced his friend to bestow
his famous library upon the Royal Society, so now he persuaded him to
present the marbles to the University of Oxford.

Immediately afterwards, and possibly in acknowledgment of prompt
compliance with this suggestion, Evelyn visited Albury, and designed for
its owner ' the plot for his canal and garden, with a crypt through the
hill.' Portions of Evelyn's handiwork still remain. The canal has been
drained, but a part of the crypt exists, and the long terrace of perfect
greensward and the remarkable hedge are among the glories of Albury
to-day. William Cobbett was so free with his superlatives, whether in
praise or censure, that they do not always count for much ; but his eulogy
of these gardens, and his version of the means by which he made himself
acquainted with them, are very characteristic. He tells us in his ' Rural
Rides ' how, having heard a great deal of this park and of the gardens,
he wished very much to see them. As his road to Dorking lay through
Shere, and skirted the outside of the park, he guessed there must be a way
through the park to Shere. He fell upon the scheme of going into the
park as far as Drummond's house, and then asking his leave to go out at
the other end of it. ' This scheme, though pretty bare-faced, succeeded
very well.' Mr. Drummond not only granted this request, but, ' in the
most obliging manner,' permitted him to ride all about the park and to
see his gardens. His detailed description of all he saw concludes witli
this emphatic tribute : ' Taken altogether, this is certainly the prettiest
garden that I ever beheld. There was taste and sound judgment at every
step in the laying out of this place. Everywhere utility and convenience
is combined with beauty. The terrace is by far the finest thing of the
sort that I ever saw, and the whole thing is a great compliment to the
taste of the times in which it was formed.'

To return, however, for a moment to the history of the estate. From
tin- seventh Duke of Norfolk Albury passed to Heneage Finch, the 'silver-
tongm-d,' afterwards Marl of Aylesford and Lord Chancellor. Finch's
career, as we all know, affords ample material for controversy. Here I

29

Some West Surrey Villages

need only refer to two incidents in it which are not without a local interest.
Finch, apparently, was member for Guildford, and living at Albury, when,
as Solicitor-General, he was so much impressed by James II. 's first speech
to the Council that he asserted that he could repeat the King's promises
word for word, and was accordingly requested to prepare the report
embodying this declaration, which was afterwards officially published.
When, however, the enthusiasm created by these emphatic pledges began
to give place to suspicions, and these suspicions in turn gave place to
vigorous discontent, Finch swung right round with the rising tide of
popular indignation. Turned out of office for opposing the King's attempt
to set aside the Test Act, he was one of the counsel selected to defend the
seven Bishops.

Here, again, his impulsive ardour was displayed. Every reader of
Macaulay will recall the vivid description of the scene when Finch's
persistence in addressing the court prevented judgment being at once
recorded for the Bishops on the technical plea that the publication of
their petition in Middlesex had not been proved. Finch's inopportune
oratory, his desire to shine when better men than he were content to sit
still, gave time for Lord Sunderland to reach the court, and supply the
needed link in the chain of evidence. For a brief space Finch was the
most unpopular man in the country ; but when, after all, victory was
won on the broader issue, he was applauded almost as universally and
almost as absurdly as he had been reviled only a few hours before. He
had been unwilling, it was now discovered, that his case should be decided
, on a point which would have left the great constitutional question still
doubtful. His tactics had secured a more complete and significant triumph
for the popular cause, and national gratitude for the service so rendered
took tangible form in a handsome piece of plate, which in due course was
brought to Albury. It was, however, not destined to become a family
heirloom, for early in the eighteenth century Albury House was burnt
down, and the presentation plate was lost or stolen during the fire.

From the mansion and its owners we must turn to the record of the
old parish church, which still stands within a stone's-throw cf the house,
but which, as one sequel to the Albury conferences, has not been used for
parochial worship for the last sixty years.

Somewhat desolate the ruins look even in the brightest sunshine, for
little more than the shell now remains of the greater part of the fabric.

3

H
55

-
H
S5
U
H
-
Z

a

Albury Park and ViUage

The eye, of course, is quickly caught by the gorgeous colour of the
mortuary chapel at the end of the south aisle, designed by Pugin, and
rich in the blazonings of the Drummond family. But the bare gray walls
of the rest of the building carry us much further back than the advent
of the Drummonds. They remind us of the entry in Domesday Book
which recalls the existence of a church and a parish mill at Albury in the
Conqueror's day. Closer inspection, moreover, will disclose a possible
link with a still remoter past. The bases of two columns are wrought
in Surrey marble, and tradition alleges, rightly or wrongly, that these
came from the Roman station on Farley Heath, two miles away. Both
Salmon and Bray quote, and apparently accept, this theory. Martin
Tupper, with the imaginative touch which belongs to the poet, went still
further. He conceived that the Roman quarter to which these blocks
of marble once belonged may have been superseded by a pagan altar,
then gained for triumph for a Christian church about which dwellers may
have congregated, to be dispossessed in turn by hordes from Denmark.
It is a pretty and attractive theory, but evidence in its support is necessarily
slight; and as so competent an authority as Mr. H. E. Maiden hesitates
to endorse even the conjecture that these two pillar bases were originally
part of a Roman encampment on Farley Heath, we must be content to
leave the matter in doubt.

Nevertheless, we are apparently justified in believing that the Albury
which figures in Domesday as ' Eldeberie,' or the ' Old Bury,' took its
name from the Farley ruins, while the antiquity of the church itself is
indisputable ; and whatever the vicissitudes which ultimately befell the
building, we are here undoubtedly at the spot which was for generations
the centre of Albury's parochial life.

Like Shere and St. Martha's, Albury felt the ebb and flow of the
yearly tide of the Canterbury pilgrims ; and it is with this old Albury,
rather than with the modern village, which we shall presently reach, that
we must associate the May Day scene at the close of the twelfth century
which Martin Tupper pictures in ' Stephan Langton.'

' And there was a merry, chattering crowd, and a good store of ballad-
singers and itinerant fools and mountebanks, with a bear-leader and
monkeys, an antique Pontius and Judas, and a juggler or two, and
fortune-telling gipsies with their following of happy, true believers ; there
were crippled old soldiers, and pilgrims with their scallops full of Eastern

3'

Some West Surrey Villages

marvels, strange but true ; and there were chapmen and pedlars hawking
their wares, and some of the new-fangled and much-mocked sect of
begging friars ; and a sprinkling of batlike monks and nuns good people
enough and charitable, wondering at the gladness of a sunshine holiday.'

However this may have been, such population as Albury possessed in
later years migrated further westward, especially to the hamlets known as
Little London and Weston Street. Possibly, as regards the latter, the
presence of the gun-powder mills, which for a time flourished on the banks
of the Tillingbourne here, as at other points along the stream, had much
to do with the growth of a community of a fair size at this spot.

On this ground alone much can be urged in defence of Drummond's
action in deciding, when the new cathedral was in course of erection, to
close the old church, sad though it is to see a building so rich in memories
of the past now neglected and forlorn. The site he offered for the new
church is much more central and convenient to the parish as a whole.

Other considerations were entitled to weight. The churchyard was
full, or nearly full, and Drummond was naturally opposed to its extension
within his park, which, after all, is not very large. Moreover, certain
definite practical drawbacks, as well as an undefined sense of restraint,
must always attach to the use of a parish church when it adjoins the
Squire's mansion so closely as was the case at Albury. But over and
above all this, Drummond was no doubt influenced to some extent by
purely personal circumstances. The then Rector, Hugh M'Neile, as we
have seen, had shown some sympathy with the Irvingite movement in
its earlier stages ; but he had later on fallen away from it, and did not
hesitate to condemn what he believed to be its errors, though he had to
do so within a stone's-throw of the Squire's mansion. Nay, more, it is
quite possible that on a summer evening, with the church windows open,
M'Neile's eloquent exposure of the Catholic Apostolic heresies may have
been perfectly audible to Drummond himself while sitting in his own
drawing-room.

We can, then, feel but slight surprise at his decision, and Drummond,
it is only right to add, both provided a new site and erected the new
church entirely at his own expense. Still, Bishop Sumner so greatly
objected to the change that he declined to consecrate the new building
for some time after its completion. Since then the old church has only
been used for interments, the last taking place in the eighties, when Lady

32

.

< '.

Albury Park and Vilkge

Gage was buried. The roof was then in such an unsafe and unsatisfactory
condition that attention was called to it by the Rector, and as a result it
was removed by the Duke's orders. Probably, I may add, the mortuary
chapel in the church will be the future burial-place of the Dukes of
Northumberland, as the vault in Westminster Abbey to which they have
a prescriptive right is now quite full.

In addition to Hugh M'Neile, whose name Evangelical Churchmen
still hold in honour, two men of special note served within the walls of
the dismantled church.

William Oughtrcd, the mathematician, after five years' incumbency at
Shalford, came to Albury in 1610, and lived for fifty years in the parish ;
and very suggestive and interesting arc the glimpses we can obtain of his
quiet life here, engrossed in studies which won him wide fame. It was
while living in the family of the Earl of Arundel as tutor to his second
son that he compiled his ' Clavis Mathematics,' the work which more
than any other helped to make his position among the scientists of his
day a very notable book in its way, which ran through many editions.
It dealt more thoroughly and systematically with algebra and arithmetic
than any previous treatise, and embodied practically all that was then
known on the subject. As, perhaps, few amongst us recall, it first
employed the symbols X for multiplication and : : for proportion, which
are nowadays familiar to every schoolboy. A copy of the edition of
1647 lies before me as I write. It is dedicated to Sir Richard Onslow
and his eldest son, Arthur Onslow, of whom we shall hear more later on ;
and in an introductory note to the reader Oughtred explains with much
quaint precision how it came about that he undertook this ' new filing,' or
rather forging, of his key, and how his desire was to ' reach out to the
ingenious lovers of these sciences, as it were, Ariadne's thread to guide
them through the intricate labyrinth of these studies, and to direct them
for the more easie and full understanding of the best and ancientest
authors.'

Other treatises followed, and Oughtred's reputation was noised abroad.
He was frequently invited to reside in Italy, France, and Holland, and
his correspondents included the most eminent mathematicians of the day.
J>ut Oughtred was not to be tempted far or often from his own parish.
Once a year he visited London ; for the rest his time was given to his
books and to the pupils who came to his rectory from all parts. ' As oft,'

33 f

Some West Surrey Villages

he says, ' as I was toiled with the labours of my own profession, I have
allayed the tediousness by walking in the pleasant and more than Elysian
fields in the diverse and various parts of human learning, and not of the
mathematics only.' The confession tallies entirely with the account of
his habits given by his eldest son, who told Aubrey that his father ' did
use to lye in bed till eleven or twelve o'clock with his doublet on ' ever
since he could remember. He always studied late at night, and ' had his
tinder-box by him, and on the top of his bedstaffe he had his inkhorn

THE

OF THE
MATHEMATICKS

New Forged and Filed:

Together with

A TreAtife of the Relblution

ofallkindcof AffeQcd /Equa,

tions in Numbers.

With the Rule of Compound

Ufury ; And demonftrjtion oi the

Rule of falfe Mition.

And a raoft eifie Art of delineating all
manner of Plaine Sun-Dyalls. Geome-
trically taught

B Y
VVl LL. OUGHTRED.

L N T> O 2\C,

Printed byTuo. H* R P E R.fbrR i c 11.

WHITAIE* , and are to be fold at his
,. (hop in Prals Church-yird 1647.

TO T HE HONORABLE,

SIR RICHARD ONSLOfV

KNIGHT, ONE OF THE

KNIGHTS Of THE PARLI-
AMENT FOR THE COUNTY
OF

AND TO jiRTHPR ONSLOW
ESQUIRE, ONE OF THE

BURGESSES OF THE

PARLIAMENT:
ELDESTSON OF THE SAID

SIR RlCtiART) OXSLOlT.

WILLIAM orGRTRtD RECTOR
OF ALSVR? IN THE SAID

COUNTY OF SVRRET.
IN TESTIMONY OF THEHO-
N00K AND RESPECTIVE OBSER-
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NOBLE FAMILY, PUBLISH-
ETHANDDEDICATETH
THESE HIJ ENSUING
TREATISES.

n t TO

fixt.' He slept, indeed, but little, and sometimes ' went not to bed for two
or three nights, and would not come down to meals till he had found out
the quaesitum.' One anxious episode, however, disturbed the even tenor
of Oughtred's ways. As a faithful Loyalist he had a very narrow escape
from sequestration. He was accused before the Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners, and would have met with the fate which had befallen many
another honest man, had not his friends appeared in such numbers on
his behalf that, although ' the chairman and many other Presbyterian
members were stiff against him, yet he was cleared by the major number.'

34

Albury Park and Vilkge

Despite his deep concern at the Puritan despotism, Oughtred seems to
have enjoyed a green old age. We read that he handled his cube and
other instruments at eighty as steadily as others did at thirty, a fact which
he himself attributed to ' temperance and archery.' The story has been
handed down that his death was due to his great joy at learning of the
Restoration ; but if so, the news of Charles's return to Whitehall in May
must have travelled very slowly to Albury, for the venerable Rector, who,
whatever his merits or demerits as a parish priest, is fully entitled to our
respect as a scholar, passed to his rest on June 30, 1660. Although his
name finds no place or mention in the new church, the parish has one
characteristic relic of his incumbency. The entries in the parish register
from 1610 onwards, written by Oughtred in the neatest and most careful
manner, are in striking contrast with the almost illegible scrawl on the
previous pages.

Rather more than a century after Oughtred's death Albury was one of
the two livings in Surrey held by Samuel Horsley. His connection with
the parish was, however, short-lived, and we need only note his name
here to recall the fact that he subsequently became by rapid promotion
Archdeacon of St. Albans, Dean of Westminster, and Bishop of St. David's,
Rochester, and St. Asaph, and shared prominently in the political and
theological controversies of his day.

When we quit Albury Park and the old church, we are within a few
yards of the Silent Pool, which is said to have suggested to Tennyson
Keats' description of Neptune's cave. Martin Tupper claimed to have
invented both the name and fame of this placid lakelet, with its bluish,
translucent water embosomed among the trees ; and no doubt ' Stephan
Langton ' did much to preserve and popularize the legend attaching to
the spot. Hut one fails to see why the pool should have been robbed of
its old historic name as ' Sherbourne,' or, in Aubrey's days, ' Shirburn
Spring.' King John, so the story runs, was enamoured of the fair
daughter of a woodman, and surprised her whilst bathing in the pool. In
her terror the girl lost her hold of a branch of a tree and sank with a loud
scream into deep water. Hearing her cry, her brother rushed to her aid
and plunged into the pool, only, however, to share his sister's fate. For
generations afterwards, as tradition affirmed, the figure of a girl with hei
arms clasped round her brother might be seen at midnight beneath the
still and silent surface of the water.

35 v 2

Some West Surrey Villages

Further westward, as we approach the Albury of to-day, the rich
foliage of Weston Wood comes into view. The house and manor take
their name from one Thomas de Weston, to whom the estate, formerly
part of the Manor of Gomshall, belonged far back in the days of the first
Edward. There were Westons here till the middle of the fifteenth
century, as memorials in the old church once attested. Of the Elyots,
who subsequently owned it, there are also records ; so, too, of George
Duncomb, a prominent lawyer who acquired much land in this neighbour-

COTTAGES AT ALBURY.

hood in the seventeenth century, and was one of the Knights of the Shire
for Surrey in the second Protectorate Parliament which offered Cromwell
the Crown. A hundred years later Weston was in the hands of Robert
Godschall, a Lord Mayor of London, who died during his -year of office.
Later on it was sold to the Hon. Robert Clive, a younger son of the first
Lord Clive, and later still it was inhabited by the ' humane Malthus.'
When in comparatively recent years the mansion was pulled down, the
fine mahogany staircase was removed to the County Club at Guildford.

36

Albury Park and Vilkge

A man of far wider note than those whose names have just been
mentioned was also for a time resident here. I refer to Elias Ashmole,
Evelyn's old friend, ' the greatest virtuoso and curioso that was known,' in
the verdict of some of his contemporaries. With his chief work, a history
of the Order of the Garter, and his antiquarian researches generally, we
need not concern ourselves ; but we should not fail to note the curious
chain of coincidence by which the Arundelian marbles given, as we have
seen, to Oxford University by one Surrey resident (Henry Howard), at
the suggestion of another Surrey worthy (John Evelyn), were ultimately
lodged in a building which owed its existence to a third Surrey resident
(Elias Ashmole), and all three of them, for a time at least, neighbours in
the Tillingbourne Vale. Ashmole, it may be recollected, gave to Oxford
his own collection of antiquities, including those bequeathed to him by
Tradescant, the Dutch botanist and naturalist, with whom he had at one
time lodged. The suitable home for these collections which the University
provided is known to all of us this day as the Ashmolean Museum the
first museum of which we have any record in this country; and, curiously
enough, it was in the basement of this museum tlr.it the Arundel marbles
were afterwards lodged.

A short distance further and we find ourselves in the Albury of to-day
the Weston Street of less than a hundred years ago. Very quiet and
peaceful the village is, with its mill, its picturesque cottages, and its
pleasant houses of larger build, and the Tillingbourne quietly wending its
way in and out amongst them. Here, if anywhere, too, the vale is well
wooded and rich in trees, worthy of Sylva's country.

But Albury was not always as idyllic and law-abiding as we see it now.
If we happen to turn back to the report of the Commission appointed to
inquire into the condition of the rural districts in the Southern counties
after the outbreaks of disorder and rick-burning which occurred in so
many parts of the country early last century, we shall find that this
particular district obtains distinctly unfavourable notice. While Surrey,
Kent, and Sussex are reported on in satisfactory terms as a whole, the
Commissioners unkindly add that the blackguardism of the three counties
seemed to have congregated in Shere and Albury. No doubt this was
partly accounted for by the isolation of the district in those days ; but in
part, also, it must be attributed to the influence of the smuggling practices
to which reference has already been made. As a matter of fact though

37

Some West Surrey Villages

it may be unpleasant to have to record it Albury was very far removed
from a model village even when Drummond first came on the scene eighty
years since. The village constable did not care to enter the village inn
still known as the Drummond Arms alone on a winter night. And local
gossip still cherishes one characteristic story of those days : A man, accused
of murder, had been tracked from Albury to a hut on Farley Heath.
Here the constables found him in bed, apparently suffering from a severe
attack of ague ; his wife was busy making a posset for him by the fire.
The illness appeared so genuine that the police felt convinced they had
followed the wrong clue ; they were about to retire, when they happened
to catch sight of a pair of boots under the bed thickly laden with fresh
mud. This, of course, was sufficient to arouse suspicion, and the invalid
was promptly arrested. But the constables' triumph was short-lived, after
all. Their prisoner managed to prove an alibi by establishing the fact
that he was twenty miles away from the scene of the crime with which
he was charged. Here, again such were the vicissitudes of the law in
those days however, justice won in the long-run ; for it turned out that,
though guiltless of the first offence of which he was accused, the man
was actually concerned in another murder in the district to which his
alibi referred.

Far pleasanter thoughts than these will, however, suggest themselves
as we stroll through the village to-day, and, turning a little to the south
from the main-road, reach the rising ground on which the new parish
church stands. The building itself has little in its architecture to attract
or detain us. It was modelled broadly on a church at Caen, and, though
not ineffective in its way, it seems painfully modern and distinctly incon-
gruous when compared, say, with Shere or Wotton. There is, nevertheless,
a pleasant prospect from the hillside across the valley to the downs beyond.
Martin Tupper's grave will certainly claim a passing glance, and the
memorial cross to the late Duchess of Northumberland is a pleasing and
fitting tribute to the genuine kindness and goodness of Henry Drummond's
daughter.

Still wending our way westward along the valley, we presently come
to the modest house, with many gables, which was long the home of
Martin Tupper. In his garrulous autobiography, Tupper has told us all,
if not more than all, that it is essential to know as to his connection with
the village from his youth to his ripe old age. The house came to him

38

Albury Park and Village

from his mother, having been bought, in 1780, by her uncle, Mr. Devis,
who, as Tupper himself asserts, was long remembered in the village, not
only because he always carried gingerbread in his pocket for the children,
but also because he was known to them as ' the man mushroom,' seeing
he was the first who ever had an umbrella in the place. To this quiet
spot Tupper came as a boy after being at Charterhouse. He was for a
time a pupil of Mr. Holt's, with Harold Browne, afterwards Hishop of
Winchester, as his intimate comrade ; and, according to his own narrative,
no antiquary or author could have more clearly shown the bent of his

MARTIN TUPPER'S HOUSE.

mind in youth. He used to search for coins with Browne on Farley
Heath ; he formulated his thoughts on marriage, love, and education
while still in his teens, and these aphorisms, ' in the manner of Solomon's
Proverbs,' were submitted to the Rector by the girl-cousin to whom
they were addressed. Mr. M'Neile, with an appreciation of the popular
taste which the subsequent success of ' Proverbial Philosophy ' amply
confirmed, warmly praised these productions, and recommended their
publication.

The notoriety that might have thus been won early in life came in

39

Some West Surrey Villages

after years, and Tupper had the pleasure of receiving many distinguished
visitors beneath his roof at Albury. I need make no attempt to summarize
here the story of his aims and his manifold activities ; it will be found in
abundant detail in ' My Life.' But one cannot wholly pass by the not
unfounded claim that Tupper was, in a sense, the father, and Albury in a
still larger degree the birthplace, of the volunteer movement. We may
fairly hold that both the village and the man deserve honourable mention
in this connection. As far back as 1848 and 1849 Tupper, in con-
junction with his friends Evelyn and Mangles, and others, initiated the
Albury Rifle Club, although friends jeered, and the Lord-Lieutenant
(Lord Lovelace) thought such an organization illegal, and refused to give
it his sanction.

And before long these ardent spirits had the laugh on their side.
The French invasion scare worked wonders. Not only did it prompt
Tupper's brother Arthur to advise that the family plate at Albury House
should be sunk in a well for safety, and Henry Drummond to suggest
that ' mansions ' on the South Coast should be fortified as strongholds by
filling the windows with grates and mattresses, and loopholing the garden
walls ; it had a far more substantial and permanent result in the inaugura-
tion of the system of national defence which Tupper and his Surrey friends
claimed to have had in view ' before it was thought of anywhere by anyone
else.' When thus the volunteer movement sprang into being, in 1859,
Tupper's ballad called ' Defence, not Defiance,' gave the force the apt
motto it still retains, and a year later, in ' A Rhyme for Albury Club,' he
strove to remind the nation how much it owed to the ' club of crack shots
upon Surrey Blackheath.' The lines are so little known nowadays that,
despite their eulogy of Tom Wydeawake's foresight and persistence, they
may bear quotation :

'A RHYME FOR ALBURY CLUB.

' A rhyme for the Club, the brave little Club,

That stoutly went forward when others held back,
And, reckless of many a sneer and a snub,

Steer'd manfully straight upon Duty's own tack.
Though quarrelsome peacemongers did their small worst,

In spite of their tongues and in spite of their teeth,
We stood up for England among the few first,
With rifles and targets on Surrey Blackheath.
40

Albury Park and ViUage

' Time was when Tom Wydeawake, ten years agone,

Toil'd to arouse dull old Britain betimes,
By example he shouldered his rifle alone ;

By precept he showered his letter and rhymes ;
With bullets he peppered old Shcrbornc's hillside,

With ballads and articles worried the Press.
The more he was sneer'd at, the stronger he tried,

And would not be satisfied with short of Success.

' And now is his Fancy the front of the van,

And England an archer, as in the past >ears,
And stout middle age carries arms like a man,

And all the young fellows are smart Volunteers :
And Herbert and Elcho, and Spencer and Hay,

And Mildmay, and all the best names in the land,
On a national scale achieve grandly to-day

What Wydeawake schemed with his brave little band.

' Then cheers for the Queen, for the Club, and the Corps,

For Grantlcy, and Evelyn, and Sidmouth, and all ;
With Franklin and Mangles, and six dozen more,

The first to spring forth at Britannia's call.
And long may we live with all peaceably here

For olive, not laurel, is Glory's true wreath.
But if the wolf comes, he had better keep clear

Of a club of crack shots on Surrey Blackheath.'

Of Tupper's later years in Albury one need say but little ; both his
fame and his wealth waned. Hut stories are still cherished of the kindliness
and egotism which characterized all his life ; and eccentricities and little
errors of taste and judgment of which one may still hear may be overlooked
in the recollection of the real affection Tupper bore for the district in
which his lot was cast, and of his zealous efforts in many ways to spread
a knowledge of, and to kindle a just enthusiasm for, its charms.

Tupper's family vault was in the old church, but, in view of the
formalities necessary to secure access to it after the church was closed, he
decided that he and his wife should be buried in the new churchyard.

CHAPTER V

FROM CHILWORTH TO SHALFORD

TILL continuing our route westward, we shall not leave
Albury village far behind before we enter Chilworth
Vale. Cobbett's oft-quoted words at once recur to the
mind the words which fervently cursed the paper-
mills and the gunpowder-pills, but which with no less
fervour eulogized the valley as one of the ' choicest
retreats of man,' where ' the nightingales are to be
heard earlier and later in the year than in any other part of England,
where the first bursting of the buds is to be seen in the spring, and where
everything seems formed for precluding the very thought of wickedness.'

There is the right ring in these hearty phrases, for Cobbett, when
Nature touched him, spoke strong and true. Chilworth the valley, not
the somewhat desolate-looking cluster of cottages immediately near the
railway-station which evoked Mrs. Ady's scorn always charms. No
prettier prospect is to be seen in South-west Surrey than that afforded
across the vale from the crest of St. Martha's Hill. Pleasanter woodland
paths are not to be found than may be traced upon the slopes of its well-
timbered hills. And in the valley itself, if we adhere to the main-road, we
have ever-changing glimpses of streams and meadow, wood and down.
The sound of running water is with us ever and anon ; indeed, here, more
than anywhere else on our route so far, we feel and realize that we are in
the river valley. The dark soil, the rich green of the pastures, the willows
on the winding banks of the stream, the bulrushes and the sedges, all bear
silent witness to the presence of the Tillingbourne.

Presently we come to Postford Ponds, lying still and calm at the foot
of the steep slope of the tree-clad hills. Here is no sound of babbling
stream ; all is stillness and peace. The surface of the water is motionless,
and reflects with singular distinctness the heavens above and the verdure

42

B

:

:

O

_
b.

From Chilworth to Shalford

on the banks around. Two swans in the foreground repose gracefully, as
if they, too, felt the absolute quietude of the scene ; the brilliant king-
fisher which flits across as we stand at the water's edge is the only sign of
movement which the eye detects.

Amid surroundings such as these, who will not sympathize with John
Leech in the story which Martin Tupper tells of their joint angling
expedition to the pond ?

' We went on a fine hot day, thinking less of possible sport than of
sandwiches and sherry and an idle lounge on a sloping bank, and haply
the calmly contemplative cigar. As we lay there, in dolcc far niente

\ RUSTIC COTTAGE, CHILWORTH.

fashion, all at once Leech jumped up with a vigorous "Confound that
float ! Can't it leave me in peace ? I've been watching it bobbing this
five minutes, and now it's out of sight altogether hang it !'' ' with that
hearty exclamation of disgust pulling up a brilliant two-pound perch, the
glory of the day. Next week's Punch had a pleasant comic sketch of this
petty incident, immortalized by the famous ' bottled Leech.'

Of Postford House, close by, a more gruesome story is told. Seventy
or eighty years ago a secret cupboard was discovered in the wall of the
drawing-room. This was found to contain several forged plates for the
piinting of bank-notes, and the discovery was thought to account for the

43 a

Some West Surrey Villages

suicide a short time previously of a former owner of the paper-mill lower
down the stream, who had evidently feared exposure and conviction.

Only a short distance separates the placid beauty of Postford Ponds from
the suggestive ugliness of the gunpowder-mills. One can never quite rid
one's mind of the sense of incongruity suggested by the presence of such
an industry on such a site. And yet, as every student knows, it was, after
all, a very simple and natural sequence of events which led to the estab-
lishment of this manufacture on the banks of the Tillingbourne
300 years ago.

When early in the sixteenth century John Evelyn's ancestors introduced
the manufacture of gunpowder into this country, nothing was more natural
than that they should set up the mills at Wotton (among other places),
where the Tillingbourne supplied the water-power, and where abundant
timber was available for charcoal-making. Later on these mills were
disused ' for the danger the neighbourhood was in upon their blowing
up, which frequently happened,' says Salmon and the manufacture was
moved further down the same stream. For a time, as has been seen, it
existed both at Shere and Albury, and finally it settled at Chilworth, where
excellent facilities were found both as regards water-power and fuel.

Hitherto England had been dependent upon Flanders for its supply of
powder, and Elizabeth, anxious to remedy such a state of things, appears
to have favoured this attempt to establish the industry among the Surrey
hills. Workmen were imported from the Continent, and settled at Chil-
worth under one Sir -Polycarp Wharton, who, however, afterwards
quarrelled with the authorities and ended his days in prison. But the
task which the Evelyns and he had set themselves to achieve was
accomplished. There was no need to look across the seas for powder,
and just as the cast-iron guns used in the Ciyil War were obtained from
the Wealden ironworks, so most of the gunpowder consumed in the same
strife was supplied from Surrey. Hence the efforts of the Royalists to
secure control in the South - eastern counties when war broke out.
Hence, too, the order issued by the Committee of the Two Kingdoms in
1645, by which the manufacturer was forbidden to keep by him more than
a fixed quantity of saltpetre, or to attempt to make more powder than the
Government thought it would require.

Aubrey found no less than sixteen powder-mills ' in this Romancy
vale' forty years after the Civil War had ended. In his picturesque

44

From Chilworth to Shalford

phrase, it was ' a little commonwealth of powder-makers who are as black
as negroes,' but a somewhat dangerous spot also, if we accept his further
statement that ' five mills were blown up in little more than half a year's
time.' Of the extent of the works at this period, we can, indeed, form
some conception from the figures mentioned in Sir Polycarp Wharton's
statement of his ' hard case.' For he claims that by contract with the
Ordnance he was permitted to manufacture more than half of the total
quantity of powder allowed to be made in the whole kingdom, and,
moreover, that he had added new works and engines which ' rendered
Chilworth works alone able to supply the stores with 325 barrels of
powder weekly throughout the year, and that was much more than all
the other powder-works in the kingdom could then furnish, without which
it would have been impossible that the fleet could have been timely
supplied with powder both at that and other times since.'

Such superiority as this Chilworth nowadays could hardly claim.
But despite the inevitable vicissitudes of trade during three centuries, the
industry still flourishes in the valley.

Not so the other manufacture the production of bank-notes, which
Cobbett, it will be recollected, characteristically classed with the manu-
facture of powder as two ' of the most damnable inventions that sprang
from the mind of man under the influence of the devil.' For bank-note
paper we have to look now to Laverstoke, in Hants, rather than to
Chilworth. But the paper-mills at Chilworth were busy on and off till
1871, when they were acquired by Messrs. Unwin, and utilized as
printing-works, noteworthy as the first works of the kind in England run
by water-power. It is interesting to know that Kuskin was informed by
the firm of this new departure, which harmonized closely with one tenet
of the gospel he so eloquently preached. In reply Ruskin wrote
(Denmark Hill, March 25, 1872) that he was 'much encouraged by
hearing of anything undertaken by pure water power, and would be
grateful to hear of the success of the enterprise.'

Success duly followed till, after the disastrous fire of 1896, which
practically demolished the works, Messrs. Unwin moved to the banks of
the Wey at Old Woking. Some vestiges of the blackened ruins are still
to be seen at the picturesque spot, almost at the foot of St. Martha's Hill,
where the Tillingbourne, as if shunning the powder-mills, glides peace-
fully on its way to the broader waters of the Wey.

45

Some West Surrey Villages

Just above, a short distance up the hillside, and almost completely
hidden by trees, is the Manor House, which at one time was so
closely associated with the lonely chapel on the hill-top. Concerning
St. Martha's Chapel itself, Mr. Palmer has told us nearly all that can now
be told with any degree of certainty ; and there is no need to repeat here
a story which in its main features is familiar to all who know the Hill.
But concerning the Manor House and its owners, a few facts call for
note.

At Domesday Chilworth was one of the many manors in the hands
of Bishop Odo, the Conqueror's half-brother, from whose greed it has
been said that ' neither Englishman nor Norman, Churchman nor layman,
nor the King himself, was safe.' When Odo fell into disgrace, this manor,
with others, passed back to the Crown, and we know nothing more of its
history until we find the Priors of Newark in possession, and responsible
for the services at St. Martha's Church, of which they were the patrons.
At first they were quite content that the priest who officiated should have
his abode at Tyting Farm, on the slope of the hill just above Halfpenny
Lane, where a pretentious modern villa residence now takes the place of
an old gabled farmhouse. But directly the stream of pilgrims to and
from Becket's shrine began to set in, St. Martha's ceased to be a mere
isolated outpost of little value. One of the most notable points on the
whole route, the Austin Canons were quick to grasp its importance, and
in more ways than one they rose to the opportunities it offered.

In place of the solitary priest at Tyting, a small colony of monks
made their home on the site of the present Manor House, where traces of
their presence are still discernible in some slight fragments of monastic
building of early date, in the square terraced garden and the fish-pond.
As an additional attraction to the pilgrims, relics of martyrs were
collected in the church, and Farthing Copse and Halfpenny Lane remind
us to this day of two of the tolls which the priors, with a keen eye to
business, levied upon all who travelled along the route. Newark, in fact,
for a time must have drawn no small portion of its income from this
station at Chilworth. But the day ultimately came when the pilgrim
army ceased to climb the hill-top, and, worse still, when Henry VIII.
called upon Prior Richard to surrender Newark and all its belongings to
the Crown. Thus Chilworth Manor and the old house of the monks
became once more the property of the Crown.

46

a
tt
o

From Chilworth to Shalford

Half a century later Chilworth was granted by Elizabeth to William
Morgan, whose son was knighted at Cadiz in 1596. Of William Morgan
himself we know little more than is told us by the inscription which was
formerly to be seen on his altar-tomb in St. Martha's Church. Of this
for a long period only two lines were visible :

Take from thy Name but M even Morgan's breath,
Stopt sweetly like an Organ, at his Death."

The simile scarcely strikes the modern reader as happy. But it has
the merit of harmonizing svith the rest of the memorial verse, which is
curious enough and typical enough of the times to merit transcription
in full from Aubrey's pages :

' Sleep on thy Marble I'illow, worthy Sir,
Whilst we, as I'ilgrims to thy Sepulchre,
Visit thy happy Virtues with a Flame
As hallowed as thy Dust, to sing thy Fame ;
Whose sacred Actions with such Will are strung,
They give the speechless Stone a speaking Tongue.
If Virtue, that makes men to seem Divine,
If all those glorious Beams that sweetly shine
Upon gentility, and deck her Crest,
Like fixed stars in Orbs, mov'd in his Breast ;
Then in these scnceless Character of Stones,
New Life gives Honour to his liveless Bones :
The Soul's a Harmony, which best doth sound,
When our Life plays the Mean, our Death the Ground.
Take from thy Name but M even Morgan's breath,
Stopt sweetly like an Organ, at his Death ;
And with his swan-like Tunes did, singing, die,
And, dying, sang out his Mortality.
Then Sleep on still ; whose Life did nexer jarr,
Can ne'er be less ; more may be than a Star.
Good Knds of Men arc like Good Ends of Gold,
Whereby we may make Angels, in which Mould
Thy Virtues cast thy Bliss ; for, sure in Heaven,
Angels weigh more, than ours stampt for Eleven.'

A little later still Chilworth Manor passed to the Randylls, and here
again we are curiously in touch with both our national and local annals.
Morgan Randyll was one of the prominent Surrey politicians of his day.
His name figures constantly side by side with that of the Onslows in the
latter half of the seventeenth century, and he represented Guildford in

47

Some West Surrey Villages

Parliament on and off for thirty or forty years. But in the end his
ambition overleapt itself. Small as the Parliamentary borough was,
contested elections were terribly expensive matters, and somewhere about
1715 or 1720 Morgan Randyll found himself so seriously in debt in con-
sequence as local chronicles allege of his heavy political expenditure,
that he was forced to sell Chilworth.

The South Sea mania was at its height at the time, and a purchaser
for Chilworth was forthcoming (1720) in the person of Mr. Richard
Holditch, one of the directors of the great Bubble Company which then
loomed so large in English life. But Mr. Holditch's sway as Lord of the
Manor had not much more than begun before the crash came. The
Bubble burst, and the private property of all the directors was confiscated
for the benefit of the sufferers. Chilworth was thus once again in the
market.

By a curious turn of the irony of fate, the manor was bought by the
' Great Sarah,' Duchess of Marlborough, with part of the proceeds of a
judicious speculation by which she had netted no less than 100,000
in the very same South Sea stock which had brought Holditch to
ruin.

During the twenty odd years that the manor remained in her
possession, the probability seems to be that the Duchess was not often
seen at Chilworth, for the manor was only one of many estates in which
her great wealth was invested, and we know that Wimbledon Manor, also
bought at the same time from one of the victims of the Bubble, became
her favourite country seat. The Duchess, as we also know, quarrelled
with everybody during the last years of her life, and not least with the
members of her own family. So at her death (1744) her land was
bequeathed, not to Charles Spencer, Lord Sunderland's eldest son, who
became Duke of Marlborough in 1733, but to his younger brother, John
Spencer, who, despite dissolute and extravagant habits, so far benefited
by his grandmother's partiality for him that he inherited all her disposable
property, Chilworth among the rest.

For the sake of one trifling incident let us carry the history of the
Manor House a stage further. John Spencer, son of the legatee named
above, was created Viscount Althorp and Earl Spencer in 1765. On his
death in 1783 his titles and estates passed to George John (grandfather of
the present Earl Spencer), and if we may believe that usually most trust-

48

From Chilworth to Shalford

worthy historian, John Russell, the steward of this the second Earl was
responsible for carting away the ruins of the west tower of St. Martha's
Chapel ' to mend the roads.' Other times, other manners.

Chilworth and St. Martha's, however, can point to links with a past
much more remote than either the chapel or the Manor House suggests.
There is abundant evidence that the wild heath which we overlook from
St. Martha's Hill was the site of prehistoric and later settlements, for

THE MANOR HOUSE, CHILWORTH.

trenches round its main hills may still be clearly traced. Flint implements
of all kinds are met with, but, with few exceptions, their age is neolithic.
Their occurrence was known to Colonel Godwin-Austen, and to other
distinguished geologists ; and in recent years Professor Sir W. Roberts-
Austen has collected a series of implements which comprises many very
beautiful flint arrow-heads of varied types, scrapers for removing fat from
skins, and much rarer implements, such as saws with fine teeth, drills,

49 H

Some West Surrey Villages

and carefully- worked and pointed flints, which were probably used for
engraving and ornamenting bone.

From the hill-top we may easily, if we wish, make our way to Guildford
through the Chantry Wood or across Pewley Hill. Or we may wander
in the opposite direction southward across the breezy stretch of heathland
known as Blackheath, named probably, as Salmon has it, ' from the dusky
colours of the heath or wild thyme which for many miles overspreads it.'
Here the Volunteer Inn recalls the associations of the spot with the early
days of the volunteer movement and the ' great review ' of 1864, to which
I have previously alluded. And whether or not we visit the new Roman
Catholic church, which architecturally has little to attract or detain us,
we certainly ought not to fail to inspect the mission church of St. Martin,
unique in design and in decoration, which lies half hidden by the roadside
on the south-west corner of the heath. Built some ten years ago from the
designs of Mr. C. Harrison Townsend, the severity of its external
elevation has led to its being claimed as ' early British ' in style. It really
is, however, a wayside chapel such as may be found anywhere in North
Italy, and its resemblance to an Italian church will be closer when the
west front is adorned with the proposed ' Annunciation ' in sgraffito work.
Internally, the decoration of the church is very rich, the walls, though
their treatment is still incomplete, being covered with marble and frescoes.
The latter are of unusual interest, as they were executed by the method
known as ' silicate painting,' examples of which are hardly to be met with
elsewhere in this country. They are preserving their freshness perfectly,
.though, for want of sufficient care in execution, the method failed so
completely in the decoration of the Houses of Parliament. The frescoes
at St. Martin's were painted by Mrs. Lea Merrit, who also gave to
the church its much-admired altar-piece in oil.

If, however, we still cleave to the Tillingbourne Vale until our stream
from the hills joins the Wey, it will not be long before we reach Shalford,
with its fine expanse of common, its remnant of the old village stocks
near the pretty modern church, the fourth of which we find mention on
this site in the parish records, and its memories of a huge fair for the
Canterbury pilgrims.

In Shalford, as in so many Surrey villages, the old and the new are
mingled in curious juxtaposition ; and as we ought not to quit the
Tillingbourne Valley with lingering visions of the modern dwellings and

5

From Chilworth to Shalford

shops clustering round the railway-station, let us presently turn for a
moment from the main Guildford road with its busy traffic. We shall
forget the cyclist and the motorist and the modern builder if we stroll a
few yards along the lane opposite the Sea Horse Inn, and find ourselves

ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, BLACKHEATH.

by the old mill, which, with its large projecting upper story, is almost the
last surviving relic of bygone days now to be noted on the banks of the
little stream whose course we have been pursuing westward from the foot
of the chalk cliffs at Gomshall.

H 2

CHAPTER VI

PEASLAKE, HOLMBURY ST. MARY, AND EWHURST

R. MEREDITH tells us that when Redworth set forth
from Copsley on his cross-country ride to find Diana
at ' The Crossways,' he ' struck on a southward line
from chalk ridge to sand, where he had a pleasant
footing in familiar country, under beeches that browned
the ways along beside a meadow brook fed by the
heights, through pines and across deep sand ruts to
full view of Weald and downs.'

We have no intention of emulating Redworth's haste, or of following
his course across the county boundary into Sussex. But if, like him, we
strike a line southward from the Tillingbourne Valley over the sand-hills
to the Weald, we are assured of a particularly enjoyable afternoon's
ramble, and one, too, which may be repeated by many different routes. If
we select the direct road from Shere to Ewhurst, we can climb Pitch Hill,
and win a view across the Weald inferior only to that which Leith Hill
affords. But as we are not in Redworth's feverish haste, we will follow a
more circuitous course, and bend our steps first by lane and footpath to
the sequestered hamlet of Peaslake.

A thin line of red in a steep cleft between the pine-clad hills, Peaslake
even now may be easily overlooked, and might well feel, not many years
since, that it was almost completely hidden from the world. Long after
the ' squatters,' of more or less questionable callings and repute, first took
up their abode on the hillside, there was so little traffic to disturb the
seclusion of the hamlet that the sight of a two-wheeled conveyance was a
rare phenomenon.

All this, of course, has long since changed with the advent of a
residential population and the coming of the cyclist. But despite the
erection of many a modern residence on the neighbouring uplands, and the

52

Peaskke, Holmbury St. Mary, and Ewhurst

sojournings of summer visitors, Peaslakc itself still retains its essentially
secluded and rural aspect. The village street if street it may be called
runs for a short distance along the bottom of the valley, side by side with
the tiny brooklet which is hasting on to join the Tillingbournc. Red-tiled
cottages dot the hill-slopes at intervals ; and the deep dark green of the
pines above is a fitting setting to the warm hues of the roof-trees. And
the open hillside on either hand is always charming, whether with the
brilliance of the gorse, the bright green of the whortleberry, the purple of
the heather, or the brown and yellow of the bracken in winter.

Peaslake to-day is prosperous as well as placid. Old residents will tell
you that times have vastly altered since the days when the farm-labourer's
wage was a mere pittance of a few shillings a week, and work not always
easy to get even on those terms. I have one Peaslake friend, now
prosperous and independent, with a cottage of his own, and his sons and
daughters well placed out in the world, who likes to recall his early
married life under these conditions. He will tell you how he and his wife
' figured it out ' that their regular earnings only allowed them to spend on
each meal three farthings a head for each member of their household, and
how for other absolute necessaries they had to look to the extras earned at
harvest and by pig-killing. Wages have, of course, risen since then, and
with the steady growth of population have come increased opportunities
of employment for the industrious working man, his sons and daughters ;
and to-day it is Peaslake's boast that it is both thriving and contented.
True, one grievance remains in the opinion of some of its residents : it
still lacks the fully licensed public-house which ' Madame ' Grote so
strenuously strove to secure.

We climb the hills east and west of Peaslake, and find ourselves in the
Hurtwood, the ' No Man's Land,' or ' forest ' of fifty or seventy years ago,
which stretches up to the highest point of the sand-hills at Holmbury and
above Ewhurst ; and even to-day, notwithstanding the changes all around,
to which reference has just been made, this wilderness of pines and beech
and heather retains much of its former wildness and isolation. The
rambler may lose his way half a dozen times in the course of the afternoon
on the tortuous paths which traverse a district where pedestrians are still
relatively few, and where for the time being the familiar landmarks of
the neighbourhood are invisible. Here, as much as in any part of Surrey,
it is difficult to realize that we are virtually within an hour of London

53

Some West Surrey Villages

town, so complete is the isolation and the sense of rural solitude. And
one can readily accept the story, for which Lord Midleton is the authority,
that the late Mr. Sumner of Hatchlands used to say that on this wild
heath he had made a bag of seven kinds of game pheasants, partridges,
snipe, woodcock, black game, hares and rabbits in a single morning's
walk.

Though landmarks and sign-posts be absent, we shall in due course
emerge from the moor on the hillside, just above Holmbury St. Mary.

Perhaps the beauty of Holmbury St. Mary is more quickly realized if
we approach it either by the road from Abinger Hammer, or by the
footpath from Abinger Hatch, through the meadows and the wood, that
brings us just to the northern end of the village. Here we have before
us the complete picture of cottages and pines and charmingly-placed
church on the hillside which combine to give Holmbury its unique
charm.

But fascinating, too, are the first glimpses of the valley which
suddenly opens out before us now from the steep hillside. In a moment
we have come upon a scene with a gracefulness, a trimness, a serene
beauty of its own. Holmbury has essentially the air of quiet comfort and
prosperity. Even its coffee-tavern and village institute is worthy of its
surroundings. But all this is of modern growth as modern as the name
it now bears.

The Felday of old the few scattered cottages on the banks of the
brook, or here and there on the common is fast disappearing in the
sense that it is being merged in this newer growth. And yet, as in the
case of Peaslake, we have not to look far back into the past to recall the
times when the only inhabitants of the valley were the rough squatters,
who for well-understood reasons of their own sought this seclusion from
the rest of the world and contrived to appropriate just enough of the
common land to erect a hut, which in time might become a passable
cottage with a diminutive garden. A rough, wild district in those days,
in which forest fires were even more frequent than they are now.

And bearing in mind the conditions which thus existed even less than
a century ago, I always feel that historically the most interesting building
in the village is the tiny unpretentious Congregational chapel, half
hidden among the trees on the hillside. This modest and archi-
tecturally unattractive little building dates back to the old ' Surrey

54

Peaslake, Holmbury St. Mary, and Ewhurst

Mission ' of the Congrcgationalists. It was part of a sincere and
praiseworthy effort to provide facilities for worship in portions of the
wilds of Surrey, which had till then been neglected by other religious
bodies. At Felday, long before Londoners had discovered the charms of
the district, this chapel was for years the only centre in the hamlet for
educational and elevating work. It was a mission outpost where admir-
able pioneer work was achieved.

Felday changed its name and changed it for the worse in the opinion
of some old-time friends when in the seventies the ecclesiastical parish

A GLIMPSE OK HOLMBURY ST. MARY.

of Holmbury St. Mary was constructed by piecing together fragments
from the six neighbouring parishes of Shere, Abinger, Ewhurst, Cranleigh,
Ockley, and Ockham. Its parish church, indisputably one of the finest
modern churches in the county, it owes to the munificence, as well as to
the designs, of the late G. E. Street, R.A. In site and elevation nothing
more effective could well be conceived, and but little study is needed to
realize something of the care and skill which the architect lavished upon
every detail of his designs. Internally the effect is, to the lay critic, not
quite so pleasing. We miss the note of the highest simplicity, and the
screen which cuts off the west end distinctly detracts from the general

55

Some West Surrey Villages

effect of the rest of the nave. But on such points why seek to dogma-
tize? Everyone will agree that no architect, could have left a worthier
memorial of his skill than this most perfectly-placed church among the
pines.

Of the modern residences which have of late been erected on or
near Holmbury Hill, one need say but little ; but of Holmbury House
one ought to record that before it became the Surrey seat of the Hon.
E. L. Leveson-Gower, it was the residence of Mrs. Marsh, the authoress
of ' Emilia Wyndham,' as well as of the ' Memorials ' of Hedley Vicars.
As everyone recalls, it was to Holmbury that the body of Bishop Wilber-
force was brought after the fatal fall on Evershed's Rough, and beneath
the same roof Mr. Gladstone spent at different times not a few week-ends
when the pressure of his political work in town was greatest.

Modern as Holmbury St. Mary unquestionably is, it has two links
with a distant past. On Holmbury Hill, a little more than a mile south
of the church, there are vestiges of a camp which, whether it be British
or Roman in origin, shows clear indication of Roman science. It is true,
no doubt, that such a fortification, perched on the top of a hill and away
from water, is unlike the work of the legions, as Mr. Maiden fairly argues.
And it seems more reasonable to assume, with him, that it belongs to the
time when the Romans had departed, and when the Welsh of Surrey
were alarmed by the progress of English invaders from north, east,
and west.

Be this as it may, we can reasonably believe that from Holmbury Hill
we are looking down upon the scene of the great battle between the Danes
and the English under Ethelwolf in 851, which looms so prominently in
the story of the chroniclers. Henry of Huntingdon tells us how the
Danes were exterminated by the West Saxons in a desperate fight ' hard
by Ockley Wood,' and goes on to speak of the warriors charging together
' as thick as ears of corn,' and of ' rivers of blood rolling away the heads
and limbs of the slain.' And finally he shows that God ' gave the fortune
of war to those who believed on Him,' and ' ineffable confusion ' to those
who despised Him. We must remember, of course, that these are the
picturesque touches of a chronicler who was certainly not an eye-witness
of the scene he describes, but who was possibly echoing the phrases of
some earlier ballad by which the memory of the conflict had been handed
down to later generations.

56

Peaslake, Holmbury St. Mary, and Ewhurst

But this Battle of Ockley, though known to us only in vaguest outline,
well deserved the importance given it in these early records. The Danes,
after sacking London, were on their way through Surrey to Winchester,
eager, probably, to meet and conquer the West Saxon King. ' Up the
Stone Street from his post of observation upon the Channel, and perhaps

THE EDGE OF THE PINK WOODS, HOL.MUURV ST. MARY.

from Arundel, came Ethelwolf and his son Ethelward, and the host of the
West Saxons. The South Saxons and the scattered foresters of the
Weald would flock to his standard upon the march. By the old English
constitution every man on pain of being pronounced a worthless outlaw
was bound to rally to the King's standard in such a crisis. And when

57

Some West Surrey Villages

the golden dragon of Wessex was in the field and the beacons blazing
on the downs, and the answering smoke of Danish ravage was going up
to heaven from London to the Weald, no true Englishman in Hampshire
or in Sussex or in Surrey but came in the train of Ethelwolf to live or die
with him.'

Such are some of the vigorous words in which Mr. Maiden has
conceived the scene. Victory, as we have seen, rested with the Saxons ;
a check was given to Danish conquest, and the respite so won among
the woods and on the hills of Surrey allowed time for the consolidation
of West Saxon rule, and rendered possible the later triumphs associated
with Alfred's name.

Happily, we have few battlefields to visit in South-west Surrey, and
we can speedily banish from our minds the thoughts suggested by these
distant memories of the fateful struggle ' hard by Ockley Wood,' as we
gaze upon the lovely prospect which Holmbury Hill affords. The view
from here, as from Ewhurst Hill, closely resembles that to be obtained
from Leith Hill, though it is not quite so extensive. On our right lie
the richly wooded uplands, stretching from Godalming to Hascombe,
and behind them the heaths and wild country that connect Hindhead
and Farnham. Immediately to the south we overlook the whole expanse
of the Weald. Possibly, on an exceptionally clear day, the distant gleam
of the sea may be discerned through one of the breaks of the Sussex
Downs.

From the hill-top we drop down not quite to the Wealden clay itself,
but to one of the southern spurs of the sand-hills that project into the
Weald. Here we find Ewhurst village and church, almost hidden from
our view when on the hills above, but nevertheless a landmark in olden
days of the progress made in reclaiming and civilizing the great Wealden
Forest. That the place owes its name to the fact that it abounded with
yew, and was within the ' hurst ' (or woody country), we can readily
believe. To-day, as we see for ourselves, the oak still flourishes on the
deep clay soil, and centuries ago Ewhurst certainly was on the borders of
the Anderida Silva of the Romans.

No great effort of the imagination is needed to picture this wild stretch
of country in primitive times, when, in addition to the thick growth of
oaks and underwood, there were swamps in every hollow ; when the
trunks of trees lay where they fell, blocking up water-courses, and still

58

Peaslake, Holmbury St. Mary, and Ewhurst

more closely entangling the mass of brambles ; and ' when beavers
dammed the streams and wolves lurked in the thickets.' Who can
wonder that the region was known as the ' uninhabited place ' ?

This wild and uncultivated district completely cut off the county of
Surrey from the south, and necessarily caused it to make all its communi-
cations in early days with the north, east, and west.

But the beginning of a change came with the Romans. Traces have
been discovered of a Roman road, which entered Surrey north-east of
Warnham, and ran northwards by Summersbury Wood to Ewhurst and

HOLMBURY ST. MARY CHURCH.

Ewhurst Hill. Beyond the latter it cannot be traced, but more probably
than not communication extended thence to the Roman station which
existed on Farley Heath. Possibly the Romans carried their 'straight
line ' from that point onwards to the gap in the chalk at Guildford, or, as
several authorities have conjectured, by Stonebridge and Puttenham to
Casar's Camp and Ewshot, in the extreme west of the county. Thus,
in a measure, Ewhurst may have been put in touch with the outside world.
After the Romans had gone, the subjugation of the great forest was
no doubt achieved by slow stages. In it outlaws and the remnant of the

59 i 2

Some West Surrey Villages

conquered tribes found a. refuge and lived as hunters. By degrees its less
inaccessible parts were utilized by the feeding of hordes of swine on the
acorns, and several centuries later still the finding of iron and the develop-
ment of the iron industry led to further inroads of civilization and a
considerable clearing of the ground to provide fuel for the furnaces.

To return, however, to Ewhurst Church and village. Throughout all
these generations the records are of the slightest. Its manors were at
different times held by the family of Bray, but otherwise no specially
noteworthy names and incidents are linked with its annals. Nevertheless,
we get just a glimpse of its parochial life during the Civil War. It
appears from the minutes of the proceedings of the Committee for
Plundered Ministers, in 1647, that some little trouble was experienced
in bringing the parishioners ' into line ' with the views of the authorities.
The rectory of Ewhurst had been sequestrated, and John Winge appointed
to it. But in July, 1647, complaint was made in due form to the com-
mittee that, ' notwithstanding the said sequestration, the parishioners of
the said parish refused to pay their tithes in demand of the said seques-
tration.'

The parishioners were peremptorily ordered by the committee to do so,
and John Hill, George Ellis, Overington Jeale senior, and Overington
Jeale junior, four of their number, were to hand over to Winge the tithes
and ' promts ' due unto him, or show cause to the contrary on the 2ist of
July following. Apparently, however, the parishioners continued con-
tumacious. For on July 21 the committee found that they had not
given Mr. Winge the slightest satisfaction, nor did the culprits make any
appearance in compliance with the order. Consequently instructions
were given to arrest Hill, Ellis, and the two Jeales, and bring them before
the committee to answer for their contempt. What happened we know
not. But an entry in the parish register is significant :

' 1647, 1648, 1649. No pties were Married in this Parish by mee
Mr. Wing, those wch were nuptiated were joyn'd together by such
Ministers as opposed the directory.'

Nevertheless, Mr. Winge seems to have held his own in the long-run,
and to have survived this contempt. Eleven years later (namely, in
September, 1660) the register records, ' John Winge minester was bered.'
His death, it will be seen, occurred within a few months of the Re-
storation.

60

CHAPTER VII

CRANLEIGH AND HASCOMBE

HE approach to Cranleigh from Ewhurst and the southern
spurs of the sand-hills is to-day so pleasant, and the
village itself presents so bright and prosperous an
aspect, that it is not easy to realize its extreme isola-
tion a century ago or less. True, some improvement
was effected by the opening of the turnpike road
between Guildford and Horsham in 1796 an event
of sufficient importance to be commemorated by the erection by John
Ellery of the obelisk still conspicuous at the cross-roads. Yet, even in
Cobbett's time and later the roads and lanes of ' bottomless clay' which
traversed the Weald were notorious for their badness. Again and again
contemporary writers denounce them as always bad, and in winter almost
impassable.

In fact, Cranleigh, lying far from the chief arteries of traffic, and with
the hills and wilds of Hurtwood to the north, and the Weald itself to the
south, was to an exceptional degree cut off from the rest of the world.
Moreover, even when in turnpike days the Horsham and Guildford road
was tolerably well kept up, the tolls were almost prohibitive. As recently
as 1846, when the railway had reached Guildford, the traveller from
Cranleigh to the county town had to pass through no less than four turn-
pike gates, paying at each gate sixpence in the summer and sevenpence-
halfpenny in the winter for one horse, or a shilling and one and three-
pence respectively if he drove a pair. If, indeed, he journeyed all the
way from Guildford to Horsham, his tolls would cost him more than the
whole journey from London to Portsmouth.

So in the first years of the Victorian era, and earlier still, Cranleigh
was of sheer necessity a self-contained little community, glorying, no
doubt, during the bright golden days of summer in the rich luxuriance of

61

Some West Surrey Villages

its well-wooded environs, but conscious amid the mud and the snows
of winter that it was thrown back upon itself for nearly all the necessaries
of village life.

Of course, all this has long been changed. Before the opening
of the Guildford and Horsham line in 1865 good roads had taken the
place of bad ; and with the advent of the railway the village entered
upon an era of prosperity and progress of which there are ample proofs
to-day.

How much that progress has really meant to the life of the people !
Perhaps no one is better qualified to bear testimony on this score than
the present Rector (Archdeacon Sapte), whose incumbency dates back to
1846. Mr. W. Welch, in the interesting notes he penned a short time
since, vividly sketched some of the conditions which then prevailed, and
I quote a few suggestive sentences.

' The farm labourers,' he writes, ' lived mostly in the houses of the
farmers, and were hired by the quarter, while those who lived in the
cottages paid rents varying from one shilling to two shillings, and
received ten shillings to twelve shillings a week as wages. Of course,
little meat but home-grown pork could be indulged in, and great must
have been the rejoicing when the score of sheep which the Rector's dog
(unfortunately for him) had worried were divided up among the poorer
inhabitants. Most of the bread was baked at home, and well it might be,
as the price of a small loaf was tenpence. There were no fireplaces and
ovens in the cottages as we now see them. Coals, which came up by
barge to Elm Bridge, and cost about thirty shillings a ton, were a luxury
to be indulged in only by the well-to-do. Paraffin oil was not heard of,
and even candles were not seen in the cottages, their place being supplied
by home-made rushlights, ignited in most cases from the old tinder-box
with flint and steel. Lucifer matches were no doubt sold here as early
as 1830, when their form was somewhat similar to the crackers newfound
in Christmas bonbons, but their price was very different from what it
is now.'

Of herbalists and witches or wise women there were not a few, and
the Rector could tell of one patient who was ordered to eat nine mice
and did it.

On the contrast with modern conditions which these details suggest I
need not dwell. The Cranleigh of to-day may know something of patent

62

CRANLKIOH CHURCH.

Cranleigh and Hascombe

medicines, but it has lost faith entirely in witches. It enjoys most, if not
all, of the 'amenities' of modern life; and in some respects, as we shall
presently see, it has kept particularly well abreast of the times. But first
let us look back a little further into its past.

If we make our way to the church, we shall notice at once that the
fabric has suffered severely, both architecturally and in regard to its
monuments, from neglect and at the hands of the restorer. It may be
that the tower and the north transept arch were part of the original
church on the same site referred to in Roger de Clere's grant of the
advowson to John Fitz-Geoffrey in 1244. But the body of the building
belongs plainly to the fourteenth century. The thickness of the tower
walls is noteworthy, and it has been surmised that the junction of the
nave and the chancel at one period in the history of the building is
indicated by the massiveness of the piers now standing at the corner
of the nave and transept. The present transepts are quite modern.
They were built (1867) to take the place of two chapels which projected
beyond the two aisles, and were separated from them by fine open-work
screens described in Manning and Bray as ' lattices of curious and elegant
workmanship.' Part of these screens has been utilized in the present
pulpit, and part in the south (or Baynards) transept.

The side-chapels just mentioned belonged as the transepts do now
to the two chief manors in the neighbourhood : the north to Knowle
and the south to Baynards. In Manning and Bray the south chapel
is erroneously ascribed to Knowle and the north to Vachery. The latter
error is patent, for when this portion of the church was built Vachery
had a private chapel of its own.

Of comparatively recent restorations and alterations it is not needful
to speak here ; but I may mention that traces of fresco were found on
the chancel and side-arches, but have now disappeared, and that a print
in Hill and Peak's ' Ecclesiastical Topography of the County of Surrey '
(1760) shows two dormer-windows on the south side of the roof to light
the galleries. The three sedilia, for Bishop, priest and deacon respectively,
have been thought to favour the theory that the church was at one time
collegiate.

The monuments, as I have said, have also suffered severely. The
oldest now to be seen is the coffin-shaped lid with a cross cut on it
which lies outside the church near the east window. Its date is early

63

Some West Surrey Villages

in the fourteenth century ; it may be the tomb of the projector of the
present church. On the south side outside is a square tablet with a
long inscription to Richard Mower, 1630, who seems to have improved
the earth and made barren land rich. There are other stones in the
church to Mowers, who, it has been conjectured, may have been descen-
dants of Sir T. More of Baynards.

In front of the altar there was a stone to Dame Onslow, 1679. Other
members of the family are buried there, but no inscriptions remain.
Of the fragments of several fine brasses which have escaped destruction,
the most interesting is a small brass in the south side of the chancel,
supposed to represent Richard Caryngton, Rector, who died in 1507.
At the north side is a fragment in brass of what was once the most
important tomb in the church, namely, that of Robert Harding and
Agas his wife, whose father bought Knowle in 1467. To this plate a
curious history attaches. It disappeared from the church during the
restoration in 1845, and was sold at Reading, eventually passing into
the hands of a collector of curiosities at Wallingford, on whose death
it was again sold by auction in London. Here, luckily, it was identified,
bought, and placed in Archdeacon Sapte's hands, to be again securely
fixed in the church from which it was stolen more than fifty years before.
Harding, who died in 1503, was a great benefactor to the church and
village. His low altar -tomb was no doubt used also as an Easter
sepulchre.

In the churchyard we cannot fail to note the beautiful stone cross
erected by the late Mr. G. E. Street to the memory of his second wife,
who was originally buried here, but whose body has now been removed
to Holmbury.

One name stands out conspicuously in Cranleigh's list of Rectors.
I refer to that of Thomas de Wykehurst (or De Cranley), who was
probably born at Wykehurst Farm, and became Archbishop of Dublin
at the close of the fourteenth century, just after Richard II. 's attempt
to subdue the Irish and reassert English supremacy. The Archbishop,
who was also Chief Justice or Deputy of Ireland, and something of a
poet to boot, apparently did not relish his task ; at least, he found a
subject for his muse in the refractory and unmanageable character of
the Irish people as he conceived it. But he was a man of considerable
parts, and earlier in life he bore his share in the making of the Oxford

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Cranleigh and Hascombe

we know to-day. Before he became Rector of his native parish in
1380 he had, as a Fellow of Merton College, shared in the advantages
of the collegiate system instituted by William de Merton. When William
of Wykeham decided to found New College, so that the benefits of the
same system might be secured to the scholars of his foundation at
Winchester, he chose Thomas de Wykehurst for the first Warden, and
the latter accordingly forsook his cure of souls at Cranleigh to undertake
these new duties. He entered on these on the vigil of Palm Sunday,
1386, when, so we read, the first Warden and Fellows formally took
possession of the new buildings of the college ' with solemn processions
and litanies, commending themselves to the care and protection of the
Almighty.' Later on Thomas became Chancellor of the University, and
on his death (1417) he was buried, not in Dublin nor at Cranleigh,
but before the high altar in the chapel of New College, where a brass
to his memory is still to be seen.

The Knowle and Baynards chantries, however, link the church and
village of Cranleigh with more notable names than that of Thomas de
Wykehurst. Concerning Knowle and the Onslows I shall have more to
say hereafter. Of Baynards and its traditions we may conveniently speak
here, even though the mansion itself is some distance away in the far
south-east corner of the parish. Baynards, which is frequently referred
to by Martin Tupper in ' Stephan Langton ' as the Surrey seat of Fitz-
Walter, is one of the few haunted houses still to be found in Surrey.
Nowadays, it is true, you will learn little of the legend attached to it,
save from your guide-book. Still, not so many years ago, as credible
historians relate, no villager in the neighbourhood would approach the
house after nightfall for fear of the ghost, which was alleged to have
made the place its home for generations.

The story goes back over many, many years, and has survived many
vicissitudes. It is traced (conjecturally) to the middle of the sixteenth
century, when the head of Sir Thomas More, after his execution, was
believed to have been preserved beneath the roof of Baynards by his
favourite daughter, Margaret Roper, who resided there with her daughter,
then the wife of Sir Edward Bray the younger. Now, we must bear in
mind that the house in which poor Sir Thomas's head was thus believed
to have found a temporary resting-place was not the mansion we now see.
The ghost survived the demolition of the earlier house and clung to

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Some West Surrey Villages

the site even when Sir George More erected a new dwelling-house,
and again when, fifty or sixty years ago, the Rev. T. Thurlow enlarged,
restored, and almost rebuilt the mansion.

But more than this : Margaret Roper herself was buried in St. Dun-
stan's Church, Canterbury, and near her coffin her father's skull was
placed in a niche in the wall. Further still, at least one critic has boldly
asserted that Margaret Roper never lived at Baynards at all. And yet
for years nay, for centuries the Baynards ghost continued to linger on
the spot, and Sir Thomas More's head was alleged to have had an uncom-
fortable knack of rolling audibly down the stairs of the house at midnight.

With or without the alleged ghost, Baynards passed from the Mores
to the Evelyns. John Evelyn speaks, among other things, of an avenue
of a hundred splendid oak-trees planted by his brother, and cut down
shortly afterwards to pay his debts withal. Subsequently the house
became the property of the first Lord Onslow, who removed most of the
old painted glass to West Clandon Church, where it may still be seen.
At the beginning of the century the house was used merely as a farmhouse.
A correspondent in Hone's Year-book (1831), who visited it, and found it
very dilapidated, says he was told by the then housekeeper that in the
great gallery, 100 feet long, an annual cricket-match used to be played by
the men of Rudgwick against the Cranleigh team.

But in 1832 the property was sold to the Rev. Thomas Thurlow, a
nephew of Lord Chancellor Thurlow, and by him, as I have already in-
cidentally mentioned, it was very thoroughly restored. A few years later,
when still in the hands of the Thurlows, it was connected with an election
episode which was long the talk of the countryside. The Rev. T.
Thurlow's son, Thomas Lyon Thurlow, was particularly unlucky in his
political experiences. Anxious to retrieve two previous defeats, he and
his family strained every nerve to insure his success when he stood again
for the borough of Guildford in 1852. The borough still returned a
couple of members. All three candidates in the field fought stubbornly,
and all were confident of victory. But at Baynards especially everyone
was sanguine ; every preparation was made to celebrate fittingly the
triumph which was believed to be imminent.

The polling proved as close as had been expected. Out of a total
electorate of 557, no less than 505 burgesses recorded their votes, leaving
only 33 unaccounted for after deducting deaths and Government officials.

66

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Cranleigh and Hascombe

But again the Squire of Baynards was doomed to disappointment, for the
figures were: Mangles 370, Bell 251, Thurlow 244.

The local humourists, of course, made the most of the incident. I
have before me one of the many placards which appeared in Guildford
after the result of the poll, worded thus :

' A Bargain.

FOR SALE,
A NEW GILT FLAG,

" VICTORY,"

On dark blue silk the owner having no
use for it !

Apply to Mr. Strut, or at Baynards Park."

Among a good many specimens of doggerel prompted by the occasion,
the happiest was a parody of Byron's ' The Destruction of Sennacherib.'
I quote a few verses :

'THE DESTRUCTION OF THURLACHERIB.

' The Lyon came down like a wolf on the fold,
And his banners were gleaming with purple and gold,
And his malice and spite were like foam on the se;i,
When the wave rolls in tempest on deep Galilee.

' Like the leaves of the forest when the summer is green,
That host full of banter on Sunday was seen ;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
Their hopes on the morrow were wither'd and strown.

' For the Angel " Defeat" spread his wings on the blast,
And he breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd ;
And the hopes of the Tories waxed deadly and chill,
And their spleen but once heav'd, and for ever grew still.

' And the mother at Baynards was loud in her wail
As thrice he had striven, it was hard he should fail ;
And the might of the Lyon in triumph we tell
Hath been crushed in the dust by the Mangle and Bell.'

There have been many changes at Baynards since the days of the
Thurlows, and it is matter for regret that a large proportion of the art
treasures and interesting relics which were once gathered within its walls,

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Some West Surrey Villages

and which included many old masters, some excellent Gobelin tapestry,
and the charter-chest of Sir Thomas More, have now been scattered.

Here, too, it may be convenient to note that little save the moat and
fish-ponds now remains to remind us of the former importance of Vachery
so called as the principal grange or dairy farm of the Manor of Shere.
But in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the house must have been of
considerable importance. It was often used as a residence by the lords
of Shere, and the records show that it included in Edward I.'s time an
oratory or chapel, to which a chaplaincy was attached, and that in 1362
Eleanor, Countess of Ormond, obtained a license for the marriage of
Walter Fitz- Walter (of Baynards) to her daughter, Eleanor Dagworth,
' in the chapel of her manor of Vachery.'

In more recent times Vachery played some part in connection with
the Wey and Arun Canal. This undertaking was one of the many
similar projects which figured largely in the public eye at the beginning
of the last century, when ingenious engineers were busy planning
ambitious schemes of inland waterways, and expatiated in eloquent phrase
on the immeasurable advantages to trade and agriculture which would
follow from their construction.

The canal was constructed under Parliamentary powers obtained in
1813 to provide a waterway from the Thames to Arundel Harbour by
connecting the Wcy with the Arun. It started from the former river
at Stonebridge, Shalford, and passed Wonersh Park, Ridinghurst, and
Loxwood, running in all a course of some eighteen miles before it joined
the Arun at Newbridge, near Billinghurst. Vachery Water was one of its
chief reservoirs, and the authorizing Act contained special provision for
compensation to the then owner of Vachery, Mr. T. Lowndes. The
canal has long since met the fate which has overtaken most undertakings
of its class. The Wey end is quite unnavigable now ; portions of its bed
are dry and overgrown with grass and brushwood. But old residents still
recall stories of the days when consignments of bullion were sent by this
route from London to Portsmouth in barges guarded by soldiers.

In still earlier days Cranleigh and district were the scene of another
form of industrial activity. Hammer Farm and Hammer Lane, near
Vachery, recall the fact that the stream running from Vachery Pond
supplied the water-power for the ' forge in Cranleigh in the hands of
Gardener,' on Lady Bray's property, which is mentioned in the list

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Cranleigh and Hascombe

(dated 1574) of the principal ironmasters, forges and furnaces in Surrey.
Of these Surrey ironworks generally I shall have more to say in a subse-
quent chapter. Here it is enough to mention that one of the best
specimens of the many iron firebacks of local manufacture which were
previously to be found in the parish is that dated 1606, still to be seen in
the Rector's study.

Two other points may be noted in connection with Cranleigh at this
period. ' Rowland's Stores ' are known to have been a shop at least since
1603. It was formerly reached by a wooden Abridge across the stream,
which then flowed along the side of the road for some distance, all the
houses being reached similarly by wooden bridges. Oliver Cromwell
once stayed at Oliver House, and gave Cranleigh a warrant to hold a
fair every Tuesday. The parchment with his sign manual written across
the Great Seal of England is still in existence, and is in the possession
of Sir George Bonham.

And before going further afield we must briefly record two or three of
the notable developments of later years. The question often arises how
and why has the ' Cranley ' of bygone years become the ' Cranleigh ' of
to-day. The answer is more easily supplied and more prosaic than is
often the case in regard to such orthographic changes. The provision of
railway facilities and a modern postal service brought into prominence
the risk of confusion between the names of the Surrey Cranley and the
Sussex Crawley. The result was that representations were made (1867)
from the parish to both the railway and postal authorities that much
annoyance and inconvenience would be obviated if the second syllable
read ' leigh ' instead of ' ley.' Some not unnatural opposition to this
proposal was manifested on sentimental grounds, despite the fact that
in the thirteenth-century deeds the spelling adopted was ' Cranlegh ' or
' Cranelegh.' But the change was effected, and its practical usefulness has
now secured for it almost universal adoption.

In other ways Cranleigh has entered upon a new era since the advent
of the railway. Its wide, breezy common, its pleasant aspect and health-
giving air, its nearness to some of the choicest bits of Surrey scenery
among the hills and in the Weald, have helped to attract to it a full
share of the influx of residents and visitors which late years have
witnessed throughout South-west Surrey. Moreover, the village itself,
while still retaining much of its old-time character, has in many ways

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Some West Surrey Villages

given proof of a thoroughly progressive spirit. Its village hospital,
opened as far back as 1859, an d now half hidden amongst the trees
which flourish in its garden, was the pioneer institution of the kind in
the country. In the Lady Peek Institute, as well as in the chapel of
Cranleigh School, it has enduring tokens of the interest in the welfare
of the parish which the late Sir Henry Peek manifested in so many
ways. And Cranleigh School itself, which dates back to 1865, has
earned a place among the prominent educational establishments of the
county.

Presently we shall have to ramble from Cranleigh on to the ' fold
country,' which lies so close at hand. But before we start on these
wanderings, and before, too, we touch upon the associations of Knowle,
we shall do well to make our way by Nore Farm to Hascombe. As
we reach higher ground we gain many charming prospects of the Weald
and of the range of sand-hills that we leave behind us. And Hascombe
amply rewards us for our stroll. The village itself is picturesquely placed
among the uplands to the south of Godalming. Its beeches on the high
ridge to the south, which was formerly used as a semaphore station,
have long been a famous landmark, and a portion of the ridge known
as Castle Hill was the site of an ancient camp, which closely resembled
that on Holmbury Hill. If it was not, as Mr. Nevill thinks, undoubtedly
Roman work, it unquestionably shows traces of Roman science. Near
at hand, too, are the Burgate chestnuts, overlooking a narrow coombe
and commanding a view of the Weald which has not been overpraised
as ' a bit of Spain it would be difficult to parallel this side of the
Pyrenees.'

But over and above all this Hascombe is proud, and justly proud,
of its church. St. Peter's, Hascombe, unquestionably ranks, with St.
Barnabas at Ranmore and with St. Mary at Holmbury, amongst the
most noteworthy specimens of modern church architecture in Mid and
West Surrey. Like them it bears striking witness to the revival which
had touched even our remote rural parishes before the Victorian era
had sped more than half its course ; like them it is notable for the
zeal with which art and devotion have joined hands to do their
utmost for the restoration and adornment of the village house of
worship.

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Cranleigh and Hascombe

Unlike Holmbury St. Mary or Ranmore, St. Peter's, Hascombe, is,
however, in one sense a restoration. A church existed on the present site
in the thirteenth century, perhaps seventy or eighty years before the
first Rector named in the list of incumbents from 1305 to the present
time, which is to be seen on the walls of the edifice to-day. Many
were the vicissitudes which befell this fabric in the course of centuries, and
deplorable was the condition to which neglect had reduced it just before
Canon Musgrave was instituted as Rector in 1862. ' A large, irregular

ST. PETER'S, HASCOMBE, CIRCA A.D. 122O.
(F. M., 1865.)

opening ' took the place of the original chancel arch, ' with the wall
above propped up by two heavy balks of timber.' There were ' great
gaping cracks and rents in the walls; the unseemly west gallery with
its barrel organ stretching across the nave, and all but touching the
second rickety gallery on the north, propped up on four legs ; and an
unseemly stove with its pipe frequently sending out dark smoke into
the church, running through one of the windows ; other windows filled
up with bricks and mortar.' The churchyard, which to-day charms the
eye at once with its trimness and quiet beauty, was then dark and

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Some West Surrey Villages

gloomy, shut in by large spruce firs, abounding in tall weeds and rank
grass, with high mounds of graves piled up and carelessly kept.

As for the fabric itself, either thorough restoration or entire rebuilding
was imperatively necessary, and in the end the latter alternative was
chosen. The last service in the old church was held in June, 1863 ;
just a year later the new church, designed by the late Mr. Woodyer,
was consecrated, and since then each successive year has seen some
addition to the completeness of its equipment and its remarkable decora-

ST. PETER'S, HASCOMBE, REBUILT A.D. 1864.

(.F. M., 1864.)

tions. Whether externally or internally, no greater contrast could well
be conceived than that between the church as we see it to-day simple
in architectural outline, but uniquely rich in its adornment and the
cheerless and forbidding structure whose place it so worthily fills. Its
walls are bright with colour ; its windows ' richly dight ' all have a
story to tell. In little things as in great the same reverent care and
refined taste are apparent. A village cathedral in miniature St. Peter's
has been termed more than once by admiring visitors, and I do not
know that the praise or the phrase is overstrained. A detailed description

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Cranleigh and Hascombe

of its decorative work is given by Canon Musgrave in the privately -
published account of the church he prepared some sixteen years ago
for the use of his parishioners, and I may refer here to a few specially
distinctive features.

First, however, we should note that the porch contains much of the
old oak timber used in the porch of the former building, and that the
massive modern lock was made to fit the ancient key with which for
two or three centuries the Rectors of Hascombe have been inducted.
The oak cross of the Purbeck marble font was constructed from all that
remained sound in the very old seat in the old porch. In the nave the
eye is struck at once by the dado representing the post - Resurrection
miracle of the Apostolic net, with its ' hundred and fifty and three
fishes,' the exact number depicted on the wall.

The glass of the lancet windows commemorates different scenes in
the life of St. Peter, the patron saint of the church, of whom too, the
pulpit bears a well-carved statuette. The chancel screen is noteworthy,
not only because it dates back some four centuries, but also for the
decorations recently carried out in memory of the late Mr. and Mrs.
Rowcliffe, of Hall Place, whom Hascombe folk have good cause to
remember with gratitude. The chancel windows mainly set forth scenes
in our Lord's life in which angels are concerned, while the subjects in the
spandrils above depict their ministrations to man. In the reredos the
adoration of the Lamb is represented ; facing it on each side, to connect
Hascombe with the nineteen churches of the deanery, are demi-figures
of the patron saints of the churches.

Much more might be said of the reverent work which gives to every
corner of St. Peter's, Hascombe, a character of its own. But though
I have necessarily touched only upon its most salient features, I have
said enough to explain its unique interest and attractiveness to every
rambler in these uplands just above the Weald.

73

CHAPTER VIII

KNOWLE AND THE ONSLOWS

NE by one the links which visibly connected the family of
Onslow with the parish and village of Cranleigh have
almost wholly disappeared. The church now contains
no memorial bearing a name once so familiar and so
powerful in the district. In the outside world, what-
ever may be the case with Cranleigh, there is some
difficulty in recognising the local associations signified
by the courtesy-title of Viscount Cranley. Further, just a century ago,
the Onslows left Knowle for Clandon ; and the old house, which after
their departure became a picturesque farmhouse, abounding in old oak,
was pulled down by Captain Hanham. A small villa residence was
erected on the site, and has since been enlarged by subsequent owners.
The only remnant of the original house consists in some old linen-pattern
wainscoting, formerly in a chapel attached to the house, and now in Sir
George Bonham's study.

And yet we should do scant justice to the men of note associated with
the village in bygone days if we did not recall the names and glance
hurriedly at the careers of two or three members of a family which, during
and after its residence at Knowle, gained honourable prominence in our
Parliamentary history.

The fragment of the tomb of Robert Harding and Agas his wife,
which we have already noticed in the church, gives us the clue to the
coming of the Onslows originally a Shropshire family to Surrey.
Robert Harding was an Alderman and a goldsmith of London. Katherine,
his daughter and heiress, became the wife of Richard Onslow, who was
for a time Recorder of the City of London. In many ways the marriage
appears to have been happily conceived. The Surrey estate which thus
passed into Onslow's hands by his marriage was, in Arthur Onslow's words,
' no small one for the age.' And Richard Onslow's abilities were sufficient

74

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Knowle and the Onslows

to win for him both fame and position in the public service. Bred a
lawyer, he rose rapidly in his profession ; for although he died when in
his forty-fourth year, he became successively Attorney of the Duchy of
Lancaster, Recorder of the City of London, Solicitor-General, and the
first of the three members of the family to occupy the Speaker's Chair in
the House of Commons.

We know little of Richard Onslow outside his political and professional
career. The valuable Onslow papers published not long since by the
Historical Manuscripts Commission give us but meagre personal details.
But some interesting particulars have come down to us of one or two
notable episodes in his Parliamentary record. One of these turned upon
just such a question of procedure and constitutional law as our Parlia-
mentarians of to-day love to seize and wrestle with, possibly to magnify
into an issue of vital importance to the nation.

Thus, Onslow was appointed Solicitor-General early in 1566, during a
prorogation of Parliament, but whilst he himself was still a member of
the House of Commons. When Parliament reassembled in September,
he, in accordance with the custom then followed, received his writ of
attendance in the House of Lords by virtue of his office of Solicitor-
General. But when the Commons, meeting at the same time, proceeded
to the election of a new Speaker, attention was called to the fact that the
Solicitor-General, though a member of the Lower House, was absent.

Here, obviously, were materials for a very pretty quarrel. Onslow
was Solicitor-General. As such the House of Lords required his presence;
the House of Commons, on its part, demanded his attendance as a
member of their own body. The Peers, when appealed to, adopted an
ingenious device. They sent Onslow himself to the Commons to demon-
strate why and how it \\as that constitutionally he must perforce attend
in the Upper House. The duty was faithfully discharged. We are
told that the Solicitor-General alleged ' many weighty reasons ' in support
of the Peers' contention. But his efforts were in vain. His fellow-
members of the House of Commons turned a deaf ear to his arguments,
adjudged him to be one of their number, and, to clinch the matter, pro-
ceeded to elect him as their Speaker. Their victory was complete. And
though perhaps no Speaker was chosen under similar conditions, Onslow
appears to have filled the position with excellent tact, judgment, and
firmness. For by virtue of his office Onslow figured prominently in some

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Some West Surrey Villages

of the many incidents which marked Elizabeth's management of her faithful
Commons.

The Parliament of 1566 was bent on securing some settlement of the
question of the succession. It formally demanded the Queen's marriage
or the naming of her successor. Elizabeth's retort was an injunction
through Onslow as Speaker that they should proceed no further with the
business. But to this behest the Commons were not prepared to submit.
That ' hard and plain-spoken man,' Paul Wentworth, wanted to know
whether that prohibition was not 'against the liberties of Parliament,'
and hot debates ensued. When the Queen, in a fresh message, com-
manded that there should be no further argument, she was met with a
fresh request for freedom of deliberation. Here Elizabeth's tact and
discretion came to the rescue. Through the Speaker she assured the
Commons that ' she did not mean to prejudice any part of the liberties
heretofore granted them.' Her command of silence was softened to a
request, and the Commons, won by this graciousness, received the
Speaker's message ' most joyfully with hearty prayers and thanks for the
same.'

How Richard Onslow bore himself through all this turmoil we have
scanty means of judging, but he appears to have been able to give firm
expression to the dominant feelings of the House and to the limitations
of the royal favour. Addressing the Queen, he is reported to have
declared : ' By our common law, although there be for the Prince pro-
vided many princely prerogatives and royalties, yet it is not such as the
Prince can take money or other things as he will at his own pleasure
without order ; but quietly to suffer his subjects^to enjoy their own
without wrongful oppression.'

Remembering the submissive language in which Elizabeth was usually
addressed, there is a resoluteness about these words which can hardly be
mistaken.

Onslow, nevertheless, did not suffer any loss of favour at Court for this
firm stand for constitutional rights. He died in 1571, the year in which
the Parliament next met after the stormy session of 1566. But his elder
brother Falk was Clerk of the House of Commons throughout the rest of
the reign. One of his daughters was Maid of Honour to the Queen, and
his eldest son dying without children, his second son Edward was knighted
by the Queen.

76

ARTHUR ONSI.OW.
THE TIIIKU SHKAKKK ONM.OW, ANU GKANUSON OK SIR AKTHUK ONSLOW OK Kvwi K.

To fact f. 76.

Knowle and the Onslows

Sir Edward seems to have spent his days quietly in retirement at
Knowle. He was, we read, a ' person of eminent virtue and piety, and
a Church Puritan.' But he made no attempt to emulate his father's
example by taking part in public work ; and it was left to the next genera-
tion to regain for the family the prominence in this respect which was
won by the first Speaker Onslow.

Sir Edward's eldest son dying without issue, Knowle passed to his
second son, afterwards Sir Richard Onslow ' that fox of Surrey,' as
Cromwell styled him, ' that artful man,' as his great-grandson, Arthur
Onslow, afterwards described him. And concerning Sir Richard and his
diplomatic, if somewhat tortuous, course throughout the troublous years
from 1640 to 1660 we have learnt much.

Richard succeeded to Knowle while still in his minority, and was
knighted by James in 1627 at the age of twenty-three. When in his
twenty-sixth year he was chosen a Knight of the Shire for the county of
Surrey. The event is worth recording, for, as Arthur Onslow says with
justifiable pride, ' it laid the foundation of that interest both in the county
of Surrey and in 'he town of Guildford that our family have ever since
kept up to a height that has been scarcely equalled in any county by one
family.' Much esteemed in his own county, Onslow was appointed a
justice of the peace five years later, and speedily ' bore the principal sway '
in county business and interests. With his great spirit and abilities strong
ambition was, however, linked. He was ' much set upon raising his
family,' and to this end he pursued a policy which his great - grandson
does not hesitate to describe as artful and cunning.

At the outset of the troubles with Charles, Onslow, whose sympathies
were distinctly with the Parliament, unhesitatingly sided with the people.
By command of the Commons, he raised a regiment of his own, appeared
at Kingston in force in the nick of time to seize Justice Mallet when the
latter was on the point of adjourning the sessions and repairing to the
King ; was appointed one of the sequestrators of the estates of the
Surrey Royalists ; took part in the siege of Basing House ; helped Waller
to provide the sinews of war ; and when the Self-denying Ordinance was
passed promptly resigned his command in the army.

Up to this point there seems little cause for complaint ; but it is clear,
nevertheless, that Onslow was not a whole-hearted Parliamentarian. Like
a good many others, he was not prepared to go to extremities against the

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King. He wished only to ' restrain his power and to preserve the consti-
tution upon a true basis.' Moreover and this we can well reconcile with
all we know of his temperament and his aims ' he was a great enemy to
the wild and enthusiastic principles of religion that prevailed during these
times.'

Soon came the dispute with Wither the poet, the author, do not let us
forget, of the familiar lines beginning :

'Shall I, wasting in despair,
Die because a woman's fair ?'

Wither, as Governor of Farnham Castle, was under Onslow's orders,
and the castle before long fell into the hands of the enemy. In his
pamphlet ' Justiciarus Justificatus ' Wither alleged that his office was
rendered inefficient by Onslow's jealousy and interference. Now, Onslow
was not a man to remain passive under such an attack. He success-
fully brought the matter before the House of Commons, which adjudged
the reflections on his character to be false, scandalous, and injurious,
fined Wither 500, and ordered the pamphlet to be burnt both at
Kingston and Guildford markets. It is evident that this was quite as
much a party victory as a personal vindication. For the tellers in the
division were ' the principal men in the House ' the leaders of the two
chief contending parties. Still, according to Arthur Onslow, it was a
victory for Richard Onslow against Cromwell himself.

Obviously, indeed, Onslow was already a suspect in the eyes of the
' stalwarts.' Amongst the latter the impression was current, whether or
not as a consequence of Wither's invectives, that Onslow was probably
sending money to the King. In any case, we find him one of the
forty-eight members of the House of Commons ' secluded ' by the army
in 1648, and he was, moreover, among those who were treated with much
severity.

During this seclusion Onslow apparently did not conceal his views.
He acted upon frequent occasions, we are told, with great zeal and
resolution against the then powers, but ' with so much prudence, too
(which his enemies called by another name, and reproached him for),
that he never subjected himself to any prosecution or public censure,
though he was more than once very near it.' In 1651, however, Cromwell
put his loyalty to the cause to a further test. He was nominated Colonel

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Knowle and the Onslows

of a Surrey regiment and ordered to join Cromwell at Worcester.
Onslow's belief was that he was put upon this service to try him and
ruin him. That it was distasteful to him he did not attempt to hide,
for though he is reported to have marched hard in order to reach
Worcester in time, he himself subsequently confessed that he hovered
about with his regiment until the fight was over. This was the incident
which roused Cromwell's wrath and led him to avow that ' at one time
or another he would be even with that fox of Surrey.' Later on, indeed,
the Protector affirmed that if Onslow had come up before the fight it
would have been uncertain which side he would have taken. In the
same spirit, on another occasion, prompted probably by Onslow's promise
to assist Penruddock's insurrection at Salisbury, the Protector declared
that Onslow ' had Charles Stuart in his belly.'

And yet, despite all these suspicions and suspicious circumstances,
we find Onslow one of the Commons who in 1657 waited upon Cromwell
to offer him the Crown. ' He was very earnest for making Cromwell
King,' says Arthur Onslow, who adds : ' His speech shows him to have
been a very able and artful man.' How reconcile this attitude with the
lukewarmness in the Protector's cause at Worcester ? Two theories have
been suggested. Onslow, always a Moderate, and always a believer in
a constitutional monarchy, may have honestly thought that Cromwell's
acceptance of the Crown was the best means of insuring peace and good
government. But his critics were not disposed to put this charitable
interpretation upon his action ; they preferred to attribute to him the
sinister motive of seeking to facilitate the restoration of the Royal Family,
and with it Cromwell's downfall. Or, if this theory was a little too
Machiavelian to find favour, they fell back upon the suggestion that
Cromwell had won him over by the promise of a peerage.

In support of each view something may be urged. And for the last
some colour is found in the fact that, after the Crown had been declined,
Onslow was amongst the ' old nobility ' and gentlemen of the best
families of rank in the nation who were summoned by Cromwell to his
newly-formed House of Peers. Moreover, as additional evidence that
some sort of reconciliation had been patched up, Onslow was later on
included (as Arthur Onslow believes) among the four or five persons
named to act as a sort of Cabinet Council to the Protector's son Richard.

But whatever Onslow's motives or his actual relations with Cromwell

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Some West Surrey Villages

in the latter's closing years, the time soon came when he had to trim
his sails again. In the rapid changes which followed the Protector's
death he was prompt to show his desire for the restoration of Charles.
When he took his seat with the other ' secluded ' members in the
Parliament of 1659, he was quickly in the front ranks of the Royalists.
Appointed Gustos Rotulorum of Surrey, he was one of the Council of
State who prepared the way for the King's return. Nay, so intimate
were his relations with Charles's partisans, so zealous his services, that
he was not without hope of some distinction at the Restoration. This
hope, however, was not realized. Another disappointment was sustained
in 1660. Onslow and his son both stood for election as Knights of the
Shire when the Convention Parliament was summoned, and both were
defeated. Onslow felt the repulse keenly, but the mortification was
lessened by the burgesses of Guildford, who, having kept back their
election for the purpose, returned father and son as representatives of
the borough.

Despite his friendship with Sir Ashley Cooper, it was for a time
doubtful whether Onslow would not be exempted from the Act of
Indemnity. His enemies had not forgotten the tortuous paths into
which his diplomacy had led him. A paper of charges or reasons was
drawn up in which some damaging accusations were levelled against
him. Had he not arrested Sir Thomas Mallet at Kingston-on-Thames ?
Had he not pulled down the King's powder-mills at Chilworth ? Did
he not compare King Charles to a hedgehog? Onslow's friendships,
if not his own record, saved him. He was duly included in the Act,
and, ' able and artful ' as he always showed himself, made assurance
doubly sure by taking out a special pardon under the Great Seal. He
survived the Restoration four years, living in considerable reputation in
Parliament and in his own county, and dying, it is said, from some hurt
he received from lightning.

What judgment can we pronounce upon such a career ? Allowance
must be made, of course, for the uncertainty and confusions of the times ;
for the natural desire of most men, however keen their patriotism, to
preserve their own heads and their own estates amid such troubles ; and
for the unfailing readiness of extremists on both sides to denounce the
cautious but perfectly honest ' Moderate ' man as a time-serving comrade
or a cunning traitor.

80

Knowle and the Onslows

And yet it seems quite impossible to reconcile the ins and outs of
Richard Onslow's tortuous course with the steadfast patriotism of the
statesman who consistently places his country's good before his own
protection or advancement. One is driven back, however reluctantly,
to Arthur Onslow's words, ' able and artful, very ambitious and much
set upon raising his family,' for the key to a record and a character
which nevertheless have to be assessed with due regard to the troublous
days to which they belong.

We seem to have wandered far from Cranleigh, but throughout all
these years Onslow was closely linked with the life of the village.
According to the parish registers, he occasionally officiated in the
solemnization of marriages, possibly during the protracted but not very
interesting proceedings as to the sequestration of the living, as to which
the curious will find many details in the minutes of the Committee for
Plundered Ministers.

He was succeeded at Knowle by his son, Sir Arthur Onslow. Com-
rades though they were in political life Arthur, who was elected M.P.
for Bramber at the age of eighteen, thanks to the influence of the
Earl of Arundel, of Albury, sat by his father's side in Parliament for
many years the two men were in striking contrast. Throughout his
life he was faithful to the ' country party,' the party which, though
attached to the Church and Crown, yet leaned towards Puritanism,
and viewed with disgust the extravagance and dissoluteness of the Court.
He did not aim at political distinction ; he shunned political intrigue.
In the words of his grandson, ' Besides the plainness and sanctity of
his life, which drew much reverence towards him, he had all the qualities
which make men useful to, and beloved by, their neighbours and country-
men.' He was hospitable, generous, and very charitable to the poor.
An active justice of the peace, he was ' in all the public trusts ' in the
country. And so greatly were his services in requisition in ' reconciling
law differences and advising his neighbours, that when he went a-hunting
it was customary for the people where he happened to be to come out
and detain him from his sport by consulting him concerning matters
whereon they sought his counsel.'

Nevertheless, Arthur Onslow had his battles to fight. He was not in
favour at the Court. Towards the latter end of Charles II.'s reign he
seems to have been marked out for persecution. He was removed from

81 M

Some West Surrey Villages

the commission of the peace, and had his house searched as a disaffected
and dangerous person. Both he and his eldest son were presented at
the Surrey Quarter Sessions for words spoken at a bailiff's feast in
Guildford, and for giving a gold chain and medal to the Mayor of the
Borough on his appointment as High Steward. The last incident is
linked with another episode in Onslow's career which redounds greatly to
his credit.

Some poor folks living near the Berkshire border of Surrey were
charged with killing the King's deer from Windsor Forest, and they
were to be tried for the offence by Judge Jeffreys. Their peril was great.
They had killed the deer quite justifiably, for Guildford Park had been
disafforested, and no part of Surrey was within Windsor Forest. But
what chance had they of justice at Jeffreys' hands ? They sought
Onslow's help, and he, characteristically enough, proved their friend.
When on the opening of the Commission the Grand Jury was sworn
in, some hint was given to the Judge ' that they were of a complexion
not to do his business.' Jeffreys discharged them at once, and bade
the Sheriff return another jury forthwith. But in this instance the
Judge had reckoned without his host. Onslow was there, and interposed
with the objection that no further proceedings could be taken under
that special Commissiori, the powers of which had been exhausted. Irate
as he was, Jeffreys apparently felt himself outmanoeuvred. He broke
up the court in a rage, and with threats of vengeance on Onslow for
having 'overreached him.' Onslow by his readiness and courage had
saved the 'rioters,' against whom no further proceedings were taken.

It augured ill for Onslow and his son that, when called upon to
answer in the Court of King's Bench for the Guildford speech to
which I have just referred, they should have to appear before the Chief
Justice. Jeffreys soon showed that he had not forgotten the rioters'
trial. But the threatened vengeance was luckily averted. Onslow's
father-in-law, Sir Henry Tulse, was an alderman of the City of London,
where Jeffreys was Recorder. Tulse's good offices seem to have been
exerted on the accused's behalf. At any rate, the prosecution went no
further, and in later years the Judge was ' much softened ' towards
the man who had so pluckily and successfully resisted him at Guildford.

We must not tarry now to dwell at length upon Onslow's election
experiences, interesting though some of them were ; but I must not omit

82

uT
r.

U

O

Knowle and the Onslows

to note that he and George Evelyn of Wotton, brother of ' Sylva ' Evelyn,
stood together in the memorable fight of 1679, which in Surrey, as
elsewhere, proved fierce and obstinate beyond example. Their opponents
were Lord Longford and Sir Adam Browne, and, in Arthur Onslow's
phrase, it was a ' mighty and very expensive struggle.' Despite the
best efforts of the Court party, Evelyn and Onslow won the day. They
were again successful six months later, when another dissolution was
suddenly sprung upon the country. Two years later still all the conditions
were against them. James II. 's accession had been followed by a burst
of hearty and short-lived loyalty. ' Through the arbitrary and partial
friendship of the Sheriff, and the violence used towards them and their
friends,' Onslow and Evelyn gave up the poll, ' although the majority of
the electors was visibly with them.'

To the last, however, Onslow retained the affectionate respect of his
friends and neighbours. So vast a concourse of people of all conditions,
in coaches, on horseback, and afoot, attended his funeral that the crowd
is said to have extended almost the whole distance of three miles from
Clandon (where his father had bought a hunting-lodge from Sir Richard
Weston) to Guildford. And Bishop Mew of Winchester the fighting
Bishop hastened to Cranleigh to perform the last offices. The King,
indeed, took umbrage at the demonstration, ' as though something else
was meant than a bare funeral ceremony,' when this manly, upright Squire
was laid in his last resting-place in the church whose memories are
distinctly the richer by its associations with his name.

From this time forward the Onslows were less closely linked with
Cranleigh. The family removed soon after the Revolution to the Clandon
estate, where the second Baron Onslow, thirty or forty years later,
erected the mansion which is now their chief seat. Old memories were,
however, preserved by the choice of the title of Viscount Cranley when
the earldom was created in 1801.

83 M 2

CHAPTER IX

IN THE FOLD COUNTRY (ALFOLD, DUNSFOLD, AND CHIDDINGFOLD)

HE 'Fold country' the expanse of rich woodlands on
the clay which stretches from the foot of Leith Hill
and Holmbury and Ewhurst hills to the Sussex borders
remains to this day the least explored district in
Surrey. It is not far from the rail, and it is not the
terra incognita which it was even thirty years ago.
But in it the ' tripper ' is rarely, if ever, seen. The
cyclist, when he traverses it, hurries on, for the most part unconscious of
many of its claims to his attention, and neither the speculating builder nor
the ' season-ticket-holder,' whose presence is so apparent in some other
portions of the county, has yet marked it as his own.

Nevertheless, the Surrey Weald is full of interest and charm. Cobbett,
as most of us know, described it in his emphatic fashion as a district
where the lanes are of ' bottomless clay,' and ' where, strictly speaking,
only three things will grow well grass, wheat, and oak-trees.' To-day
its roads may still for the most part be little more than lanes, which in
bad weather are muddy enough, though not ' bottomless.' But thanks to
the same stiff clay and the far-stretching oak-plantations, it is rich in
woodland beauty. Fine old timbered farmhouses recall the prosperity of
the yeomen of ' the Folds ' in times when, for many months of the year, they
were almost shut off from the rest of the world. Now and again the
Hammer ponds and legends of the glass-works suggest industries which
nourished in this out-of-the-way region three or four centuries ago.
Picturesque commons here and there remind us that we are still in the
county of heaths and open spaces. In spring the bluebell and the prim-
rose and the marsh marigold in rich profusion add to the brightness of
the scene. At Dunsfold we come upon a village church well entitled to
rank among the most interesting in South-west Surrey ; and Chiddingfold

84

In the Fold Country

boasts both a church and an inn well worthy of the tributes paid to them
by many an artist's brush and pencil.

I do not know that the three villages, Alfold, Dunsfold, and Chidding-
fold, of this ' Fold country ' can be more conveniently grouped for a single
ramble than in a cross-country route which starts from Cranleigh and
ends at Chiddingfold. But the villages are some distance apart, and the
walk will require a long summer day if we are to saunter, as we assuredly
shall be tempted to do, along the devious lanes which penetrate this wide
expanse of park-land, farm-land, and wood. And when at last we reach
Alfold, our first halting-place, we shall have no difficulty in recognising
that until quite recent years it was one of the most primitive villages in

DUNSFOLD.

Surrey. Only the other day I chanced to note a significant entry against
the name of Alfold in the postal information furnished in a Guildford
Directory for 1842 ; for while Chiddingfold and Dunsfold had their postal
bags from Godalming daily, the utmost the authorities could say of the
delivery of a Guildford letter in Alfold was that it was ' uncertain.'

Of late, however, Alfold can point to distinct stages of progress, which
will or will not be welcome, according to the standpoint of the critic.
For myself, I am not prepared to adopt Mr. Ralph Nevill's phrase, and
assert that the ' breath of the pestilence has passed over and vulgarized it.'
Alfold is still charmingly rural and sequestered quite sufficiently so to
satisfy most of us.

5

Some West Surrey Villages

But, difficult as it is to realize the fact, the village once was in a
modest way a manufacturing ' centre.' Both glass-making and the iron
industry found a home here in the Middle Ages. As to the former, I shall
have more to say in connection with Chiddingfold. For the moment it is
enough to mention that Glasshouse Field recalls the fact that a body of
French refugees established themselves here when they and their industry
were driven from their own land by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Aubrey mentions that the graves of some of these emigrants were pointed
out to him in the churchyard, while Speed's map (1610) marks a glass-
house in the parish.

Similarly, Furnace Bridge testifies that here, as elsewhere along the
county boundary-line, iron-working extended from Sussex into Surrey.
In many respects, indeed, though not in all, the conditions essential for the
success of the industry were the same in the two counties. Iron was to
be found in the beds beneath the Wealden clay, and the Wealden forests
supplied the timber, which could be worked into charcoal, for fuel.
' Everywhere in the neighbourhood of a furnace the work of the colliers
that is, of the charcoal-burners, as we still call them was carried on.
And even to-day professional charcoal-burners, descendants of the original
workers, are to be found in Surrey.'

Originally, no doubt, iron was only worked on any scale in districts
where water carriage was available. From the Sussex mills it used to be
sent down the Rother to the coast, and thence conveyed by sea to London.
Surrey, in this respect, was far less favourably placed, and its iron-fields
were never so important as those of Sussex and Kent. But it seems per-
fectly clear that the increased demands of the sixteenth century, and the
virtually inexhaustible supply of wood which the Wealden forests furnished,
led to the gradual extension of the industry across the Sussex border into
the adjacent corner of Surrey. We have definite evidence that the Surrey
iron-works were in full activity in Elizabeth's time. One list specifies
forges at Vachery, Shere (probably Abinger), Newdigate, Lingfield, and
other places. And we have other proof that Alfold, Dunsfold, Cran-
leigh, Chiddingfold, Hambledon, Witley, Haslemere, Thursley and
Frensham, with Abinger and Shere to the north, were all well within
the iron district of South-west Surrey.

Besides the ore and an abundant timber-supply, water-power was
essential for the working of the furnaces where the works were of any size,

86

In the Fold Country

and many streams were dammed to form mill-heads for the purpose. The
blast-furnaces were blosvn by two pairs of bellows, worked alternately by
a water-wheel, so that one was being compressed while the other was being
opened for a new blast. A similar arrangement alternately lifted and let
fall a heavy hammer in the forge. Hence the ' Hammer ponds ' with
which we are still familiar in Abinger and other parishes, where as often
as not a corn-mill has succeeded to the hammer of the iron-working days.
Many generations have passed since these remote corners of Surrey

*?v~ ~ ~~ ~ ^T;

SURREY IRONWORK : A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY K1KEIIACK IN THE KECTURY STUDV,

CRANLEKiH.

were the home of an industry which was really of vital importance
to the nation both in peace and war. But there is abundant testimony
that this was once the case. Even now, though not so frequently as was
possible twenty or thirty years ago, you may still chance to come across
vestiges of the Surrey iron goods in the shape of firebacks and dogs, candle
and rushlight stands. Moreover, the records show that throughout the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Government thought it necessary
to keep a watchful eye upon the industry, and was especially anxious to

7

Some West Surrey Villages

prevent the exportation of ordnance from these districts. Thus, in 1576
an Order in Council stopped any further casting of iron guns or shot in
Surrey until Her Majesty's pleasure should again be known. For, in the
Council's opinion, the country was sufficiently supplied, and any manu-
facture beyond this point led only to the supply of ' strangers and pirates.'
Again, shortly after the defeat of the Armada a similar injunction was
issued applying to all the furnaces and iron forges in Surrey and Sussex,
which, moreover, were to be visited by a ' discreet gentleman,' whose
mission it was to ascertain the number and kind of pieces of cast-iron
ordnance then at the works.

Not only so : the iron-masters felt the pressure of much paternal legisla-
tion. To preserve the forests from destruction, an attempt was made to
limit the cutting of wood of a certain size on the common woods of the
Weald. Later on the erection of cast-iron works in Surrey was forbidden
within twenty-two miles of London or within fourteen miles of the Thames
beyond that radius. Later still this restriction was strengthened by a
stipulation that new iron-works should be opened on old sites only if the
owner could supply fuel from his own property. And, in addition, the
manufacturers were compelled to contribute either in materials or cash
towards the repairing of the roads used by their carts.

The industry reached its highest point of prosperity in the first half of
the seventeenth century ; but the crippling effect of the regulations just
noticed was apparent before long. No doubt the restrictions and tolls
were not always rigidly imposed. How could one expect them to be when
justices of the peace, and large land-owners, and other influential gentle-
men, were themselves interested in and profiting by the industry ? But
when the justices failed to do their duty, the Star Chamber could step in,
and we have records of the appointment of two surveyors to visit all iron-
works and woods used in connection with them, ' for the reformation of
sundry deceits and abuses now used and practised in the making of iron.'

Later on, other causes were at work. Waller disarmed the Royalists in
the South-eastern counties in the Civil War, and as far as possible destroyed
their iron-works. In addition, the increasing cost of fuel and the badness
of the roads more and more hampered the Wealden industry. Finally
came two discoveries : the possibility of smelting iron with coal, and
alas that it should have to be told! the unpatriotic action of certain
iron-masters, who smuggled over iron-work to France in war-time, and

88

In the Fold Country

no doubt made a pretty penny by the transaction. The transfer in con-
sequence of a Government contract to the Carron Ironworks in Scotland
was almost the last blow ; for, though it is difficult to say exactly when

DUNSFOI.D CHURCH.

the" Surrey works ceased, we may take it they were practically extinct by
the latter half of the eighteenth century.

Such are some of the old-time Black Country associations of the
district, essentially rural to-day, through which we pass as we make our

89 N

Some West Surrey Villages

way from Alfold to Dunsfold, crossing en route a. little tributary of the
Arun, and the Wey and Arun Canal, itself also, as we have seen, a relic
of another form of obsolete commercial enterprise.

Dunsfold has good cause for pride in its church ; a purer specimen
of Decorated work is not to be found in any Surrey village, and recent
restorations have been carried out with excellent taste and with scrupulous
care. We probably owe its beauty in the first place to the Augustinian
Canons who held the advowson for many years until the demolition of
the monasteries, and who were always fond of noble buildings. Mr. Lewis
Andre has described the characteristic features of the church in detail in
the ' Collections of the Surrey Archaeological Society.' Here it is enough
to note that the architect depended solely for the success of his design on
good proportion, well-conceived tracery, and bold mouldings, as there is
not a scrap of carved work throughout the building.

Of the paintings which once covered the walls of the church very
slight vestiges now remain ; but there can be no doubt that, before the
Injunctions of 1547 ordered the obliteration of all pictures, the building
was bright with colours. Some of the chief scenes in the life of our Lord
were depicted in these frescoes. On the north side of the nave the legs
of a gigantic figure in water were found ; and this probably was St.
Christopher, so placed as to be the first picture to be seen on entering
the church, in obedience to the profound belief that whoever saw this
saint's figure would be free from evil that day. Over the arch of the
north chapel was a drawing of a hare-hunt, and on the front of the arch
were three hounds pulling a stag.

In bench-ends Dunsfold is richer than any other church in Surrey.
They have a design combining the square ends generally found only in
the West of England with the ' poppy heads ' almost universal in the
Eastern counties ; and as they date back, we may safely say, to the middle
of the thirteenth century, they rank, with the woodwork of the upper
chancel at Compton, among the best extant specimens of early Surrey
carpentry. Finally, we must not quit the churchyard without a glance
at the magnificent old yew which rivals the well-known one at Crowhurst.
We should note also that the churchyard fence is kept in repair by the
land-owners of the parish, each being legally responsible for a portion of
the work according to the amount of land he owns.

A statement has been made that Dunsfold Church is a special object

90

p

X

f.

7.

V,

6

X
H

In the Fold Country

of pilgrimage by Roman Catholics. One ought, perhaps, to say in passing
that the sole warrant for this assertion is the fact that the church is visited
several times every year by parties of Roman priests from the seminary
at Wonersh, and that on one occasion, some little time since, a numerous
band of visitors came from London, the explanation being their belief
that the ' Blessed Virgin Mary was always in residence at Dunsfold.'

As to one tradition connected with the spot, however, there can be no
doubt. The well between the church and the river was for generations
considered a holy well. Even to this day it is credited with medicinal
properties, and people come for the water as a cure for sore eyes. The
Rector, the Rev. W. H. Winn, favours the theory that it was on
account of this well that the church was built on its present site, some
little distance from the centre of the village. Water is scarce in the
Weald, and this is the only spring-well rising to the surface of the ground
which Mr. Winn knows of in the whole country. It never runs dry, and
rises within 4 or 5 feet of the river, with which, however, it has no
connection, except in the way of overflow. I ought, perhaps, to add
here that the orchard near the mill was known as the Abbot's Garden,
and an old house on it, removed in late years, is supposed to have been
connected with the church or some old monastery. Further, it is alleged
that Edward Young, the poet, composed some of his 'Night Thoughts'
in what was known as the Filbert Walk in the Rectory garden. In
support of this belief, it may be urged that Young was closely connected
with the poet Wharton, who, according to the parish register, was married
in Dunsfold Church to Elizabeth Richardson in 1720.

There is not much to detain us in connection with Dunsfold's parochial
history. The registers, however, indicate that discipline was sometimes
firmly upheld in the ' good old days.' Thus, on March 16, 1665, Sarah
Pick did penance in a white sheet, and was excommunicated the same
day. Two years later 'J. Barnes, and An his wife, did privat penance';
while another entry mentions a ' house at the Whipping Post,' which
there is now no means of identifying.

Another circuitous succession of lanes brings us to Chiddingfold, or a
delightfully sequestered path, which starts from Dunsfold Churchyard,
will both shorten the ramble and add to its variety. To-day placidly
picturesque, grouped around a typical Surrey common, Chiddingfold can

91 N 2

Some West Surrey Villages

claim greater antiquity, and certainly greater industrial activity, than are
suggested by its present aspect. It boasts the site of the first Roman
villa discovered in the Weald, and the archaeologist will find in the
Surrey Archaeological Society's Museum some specimens of the pottery
and glass so brought to light. Early in the Middle Ages, too, the place
must have had some local importance, for it enjoyed the privilege of an

CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH, CIRCA A.D. 1825.
(From an old print.)

annual fair on the eve, the feast, and the morrow of the Virgin Mary, and
a weekly market on Tuesday, under the terms of a charter granted to a
Bishop of Salisbury who, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, held
the manor as part of Godalming. The old market-house, indeed, remained
in existence till 1812, on the site of the smithy on the village green,

92

In the Fold Country

which has tempted the brush of many an artist. From its proximity to
the village cross, it was known as the Cross House, and the stocks were
hard by.

Above all, Chiddingfold is of interest as the chief seat of glass-making
in Surrey. Chiddingfold glass, indeed, dates back nearly seven centuries.
We must hesitate to accept the theory that the Roman glass found in the

CHIDDINGFOLD CHURCH, A.D. 1901.

parish indicates that the industry was a relic of the invasion, for the little
glass which was used in England before the thirteenth century was
imported, not home-made. But we have clear evidence that in 1225 a
grant of land was made to an Italian glass-worker at Chiddingfold ; and
the records discovered by Mr. Ralph Nevill of the supply of Chiddingfold
glass to St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, in 1350, afford additional

93

Some West Surrey Villages

proof that the trade throve in the parish. Foreign craftsmen settled here,
as at Alfold, attracted, no doubt, in part by the abundance of fuel, and
partly by the presence in the soil of the firestone or malmstone which
was specially suitable for making the bed of their furnaces. Fuller,
indeed, says that the Chiddingfold glass-works were the only glass-works
in the country in the sixteenth century ; and although this statement
must not be interpreted too literally, we know definitely, from the text
of a petition to Queen Elizabeth, that in her reign there were at least
eleven glass-houses on Chiddingfold Green. For the neighbouring residents
were up in arms : they petitioned the Queen because the works were a
nuisance ; besides, there were others not far off at Thursley, to wit.

The good folks of Chiddingfold in thus protesting were not a whit
more narrow-minded than their contemporaries and neighbours. In just
the same spirit Guildford and Godalming complained of an Italian who
had erected a glass-house near the former town, and threatened, as the
petitioners alleged, to destroy the adjacent woods. The Chiddingfold
petition was successful, and the chief industry of the place received its
death-blow, though a little later another ' nuisance ' was probably discovered
in the iron-works which, according to Aubrey, were established in the
southern portion of the parish.

From all such forms of annoyance to-day Chiddingfold is wholly free,
and nothing could be further removed from our thoughts than the smoke
of iron or glass furnaces as we wander acfoss the green towards the
church, with an admiring glance at the picturesque frontage of the old
Crown Inn. The church was restored and enlarged in 1869-70, and
suffered somewhat in the process, but still retains some interesting features,
notably the Early English chancel. Its history may be briefly told :
There was presumably a place of worship, probably of timber, on the
site when the advowson was granted, in 1115, by Henry II. to the
Cathedral Church of Sarum. The first stone church seems, however, to
have been erected sixty or seventy years later, and to this fabric consider-
able additions, including a new south aisle, were made a century after-
wards, to keep pace with the increased growth and prosperity of the parish.
In the latter part of the fifteenth century the low part of the nave was un-
roofed and widened, and the present lofty pillars were built. The tower,
too, was begun at the same time, though not completed till after 1537.

The small tablet recording the death of the only son of Edward Lay-

94

In the Fold Country

field is the sole memorial we find in the church to-day of a Rector of
the parish of whose experiences as the victim of Puritan persecution
Walker has much to say in his ' Sufferings of the Clergy.' Remarkable
indeed were the vicissitudes which befell him. ' Half-sister's son to the
blessed martyr Archbishop Laud,' Layfield, as Vicar of All Hallows',

THE OLD SMITHY, CH1ODINGFOLD.

Barking, was ' one of the most early of the clergy that fell under the
displeasure of the party.' He was taken into custody at the very begin-
ning of the session, was continually harassed for some years, was
sequestered from All Hallows' in 1642 or 1643, and was afterwards forced
to fly the country for his security.

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Some West Surrey Villages

Layfield's Chiddingfold living was also sequestrated, and the fact that
it was the first so used in Surrey seems to show that he was specially
marked out for attack. His temporal estate was seized and taken from
him. When he was sent by Charles as chaplain to one of the royal
garrisons the same ill-luck attended him. He was taken prisoner, though
afterwards released on exchange. At one time or other, to use Walker's
words, he was ' confined in most of the Jayls about London.' At last, ' in
company with others, he was clapt on board ship under the hatches, and
not suffered to have the benefit of the fresh air upon the decks without
paying a certain price for it.' He was threatened to be sold as a slave to
the Algerines, unless he paid a ransom, which was at first fixed at 1,500,
and ultimately reduced to 50. Even this small sum was not paid, and
finally, after suffering a year's imprisonment and the worst indignities,
' he was turned ashore for nothing.'

Once when he was seized his persecutors ' robbed him likewise of his
watch and what money he had about him.' At another time they inter-
rupted him in his performance of Divine service, dragged him out of
church, set him on horseback with his surplice on, tied the Common
Prayer-Book about his neck, and in this manner forced him to ride
through some part of the City of London whilst the mob hooted him.
As the minutes of the Committee of Plundered Ministers show, Layfield
resisted to the last. When a Mr. Diggle was appointed to the sequestered
living of Chiddingfold, Layfield induced his parishioners to withhold
payment of tithes to him, and their obstinacy was again and again the
subject of report to the Committee.

Yet, says Walker, Layfield, though reduced to a mean and low con-
dition how could it be otherwise after treatment such as this ? lived
through all his troubles for nearly twenty years, bore them with great
courage and resolution, and was in the long-run restored to all his prefer-
ments. ' He was a man of generous and noble spirit, and of great courage
and resolution, and, cheerfully quitting all, chose rather to stand in the
storm which afterwards fell upon him than submit himself to the vile
practice of those times.'

Across the green, the Crown Inn can claim an antiquity almost as great
as that of the parish church. Neither the name of the builder nor the
exact date of its erection is known, but deeds have been found which refer
to a building here in 1383, and tradition speaks of it as of ecclesiastical

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In the Fold Country

origin This theory derives some plausibility from the connection of the
manor with the Bishop of Salisbury, and from the belief that a subway
once existed from the house to the church opposite. It would have served
admirably as a priest's residence, and it is not till 1536 that we have any
mention of it as ' the Crown.' Originally it comprised a one-story hall in
the centre with a two-story wing at either end. There were no traces of
an original chimney in the central hall, which was no doubt warmed by a
wood fire on a health on the floor. As Mr. Welman has pointed out, the
general plan and the main features of the building were common to all
medieval buildings of the same kind, but both the material and the
workmanship were above the average. The specimens of oak used in
the building were magnificent. In the middle of the sixteenth century
the central hall was done away with and a chimney constructed, and this
part of the building converted into two stories.

97

CHAPTER X

AMID THE PINES AND HEATHER

(a) Hambledon and Witley.

E left the heather and the pines for a time when we dipped
down from the sand-hills to the Weald. Our long
ramble to Chiddingfold has, however, brought us again
to the threshold of a corner of South-west Surrey where
birch and pine and heather and bracken long had
almost undisputed sway. Of recent years the pine-
woods of Witley have suffered somewhat severely at
the builder's hands, and there are those who predict that the day is not
far distant when even Crooksbury, Churt, and Frensham, and the still
wild moorland around them, will rival Ascot in residential popularity.
But as yet such developments are matters of prophecy, and not of history.
And it is still possible to ramble for many an hour over wild open heath-
lands and enjoy the sandy soil and the heather-scented air which first
attracted the late Poet Laureate to Haslemere and Blackdown, amid
surroundings free from the taint or touch of Suburbia.

To one fragment of this region the fragment which lies immediately
near Witley Station we could not wish for a pleasanter approach than
that which can be made from the old-world village of Chiddingfold in
which we have just been tarrying. We may follow the main-road for
a mile or more, until Northbridge is passed, and a tempting path appears
on our right beneath the sturdy oaks of Hambledon Hurst. This path,
be it noted, was originally part of the old highroad from London to
Chichester through Midhurst. But, as it was a particularly awkward bit
on what was notoriously one of the very worst roads of the county, it was
quickly deserted when the new highroad over Wormley Hill was con-
structed. Presently we emerge on the verge of Hambledon Common,
one of the quietest, prettiest, and most paintable commons in South-west

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Amid the Pines and Heather

Surrey. We climb the gentle slope of the hill overlooking the Hurst,
through which we have just passed, to enjoy the distant view of the gray-
blue crests of Hindhead. Behind us are the pines, while in the imme-
diate foreground some pleasantly-placed cottages, a sawmill, and the
single trees dotted here and there about the common, combine to form
as pretty a picture as the eye could wish to see.

Before proceeding to Witley, we shall do well to ramble northwards
for a short space to Hambledon Church, to which a path from the
Busbridge and Godalming road just north of the common pleasantly
leads. Although Hambledon is mentioned in Domesday, the church
itself is comparatively modern, and architecturally unattractive and
dreary. But the two gigantic yews in the churchyard, the farm-buildings
close at hand, and the wealth of oak and beech and chestnut around, form
a picturesque setting for a building which in itself has little to detain us.
We descend the hill by a deeply-cut lane, than which Devon itself can
show nothing prettier in its ruddy sandstone banks and its profusion of
wild-flowers amid the protruding roots of the fine trees whose branches
meet overhead. Truly a spot in which to dream of pixies and fairies and
other mysterious visitants from shadowland. When we reach the main-
road again we turn sharply to the left by the side of a stream, to whose
presence in the valley the vivid greenness and luxuriance of plant-life
bear testimony. And seen in the first freshness of early summer a scene
singularly sweet is before us : a lovely meadow, all golden with the ' little
children's dower ' ; meek-eyed kine busy among the rich pasturage in
the sunlight ; and one magnificent copper beech amid a setting of May
foliage.

Presently our path brings us again to Hambledon Common, and
rambling westward amid the sandy hills, we come upon the healthily-
placed buildings, old and new, of Hambledon Workhouse. Leaving these
on our left, a lane speedily leads us to the main-road, and a path almost
exactly opposite offers the shortest route to Witley Station.

Witley village lies fully half a mile north of the southern slopes of
Wormley Hill, along which our pathway runs. But here more than any-
where else centre the artistic and literary associations which have clustered
round the district of recent years. Close by is the house which was long
the home of Mr. Birket Foster. Just above the station is Pinewood,
originally built by Mr. J. C. Hook, and now the Surrey seat of Lord

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Some West Surrey Villages

Knutsford. And near at hand, too, is The Heights, for a time the
residence of George Eliot and G. H. Lewes. ' Our bit of Surrey,' wrote
the former in 1877, ' has the beauties of Scotland wedded to those of
Warwickshire,' a blend, one may fairly say, which would only suggest
itself to a native of the latter county. It was at The Heights that
George Lewes died a year later, and that ' Theophrastus Such,' almost
forgotten now, was written.

Of these notable residents Mr. J. C. Hook was the pioneer, and the
story of his coming, as the veteran Royal Academician himself told it me,
now some years since, is worth re-telling.

Hook had always hungered for country life and country air. In the
summer of 1857 he, Creswick, and other members of the Etching Club,
picnicked on Hambledon Common. The peaceful beauty of the place
fascinated Hook at once. ' I'll let my house in London and come and live
here,' he exclaimed ; and the very next day Mrs. Hook was brought to
see the district. A small cottage near at hand was soon engaged as a
temporary home while the neighbourhood was carefully explored for a
suitable building site. Ultimately the desired spot was found on the hill
overlooking the Weald, ' right in the middle of the pines, the immemorial
territory of the squirrel and the ring-dove.' His friends remonstrated, but
in vain. ' Between the firs I caught a glimpse of Chanctonbury Ring,
and then I saw the whole thing finished before me.'

And so in due course Pinewood was begun, and for nine years it
remained the artist's home. Then the combined invasion of the railway,
with Witley Station just below the house, of philanthropy as seen in King
Edward's Schools, and the ' building beast,' of whose handiwork there is
quite sufficient evidence to-day, drove Hook still further afield to Churt,
an even more remote corner of South-west Surrey, where we shall meet
him again before our rambles are over.

From the pines which crown Wormley Hill, we dip down to the
village and the village street. Who can wonder that the artist is always
busy here, where picturesque cottages, gardens bright with flowers, and
the old ivy-clad church, perched pleasantly just above the road, offer
subjects which never pall. Witley, in fact, closely rivals Shere in its
popularity as an artist's centre, and the cottage next to the church has
probably been drawn as often as anything in England.

If only by virtue of its conspicuous position, the church invites inspec-

Amid the Pines and Heather

tion. For the most part the building is Early English, but it contains also
a Norman south doorway with cushion capitals, a Decorated east window
and a Perpendicular screen. The thorough restoration tactfully carried out
a few years ago by the generosity of Mr. Foster has added much to the
charm of the fabric. In the chapel attached to the manor, on the north
side of the chancel, there are some fragments of old glass, which preserve
the familiar device of the Bray family the flax-breaker, the hawthorn-
bush, and the crown. Henry VII., among the many gifts he bestowed
upon Sir Reginald Bray, is believed to have given him a life interest in
this manor. Two memorials, however, specially claim our attention,

GCT2

THE STAR INN, WITLEV.

mutilated though they are. One records the death of Thomas Jones, or
Jonys, ' one of the sewers of the chamber to our sovereigne Lord Kinge
Henry VIII.' On another stone in the north wall of the chancel
we can still trace the fragments of an inscription to the memory of
the ill-fated Duke of Clarence, who also had some connection with the
manor.

If we glance for a moment at these manorial records, we get a curious
insight into the little-known past of a Surrey parish which in medieval
days could have had but scant connection with the outside world. Thus,
at the time of the Domesday Witley belonged to an influential Norman
family named De Aquila, or De 1'Aigle. From them it passed through
the hands of several important families (e.g., the Mareschals of Pembroke,

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Some West Surrey Villages

the Warrens of Surrey), until Henry III. bestowed it on Prince Edward
and his heirs. Thenceforward it seems to have been part of the usual
dower of the Queens of England. In this connection the men of Witley
enjoyed one special privilege. As tenants of the Crown they claimed
exemption from jury service under a grant from Henry IV. Years later
the exemption was challenged by the justices in session, and the question
was fought out in the Court of Exchequer. But the Witley men made
good their case, and, in Manning's phrase, their privilege ' has never been
questioned since.'

Subsequently Witley became the property in succession of many promi-
nent officials and servants of the Court. Thus, it was held in turn by the
Mores of Loseley ; by one Henry Bell, Clerk Comptroller of the House-
hold to James I. ; and later still by Antony Smith, who was Clerk of the
Spicery to the same King.

(b) Thursley and Frensham.

Our ramble will be pleasant enough if we make our way still further
northward to Milford and Mousehill, with their characteristic commons,
which add so greatly to the charm of the Portsmouth Road. But we may,
if we choose, follow a more direct route by striking sharply to the west by
the smithy at the further end of Witley village. Thence, keeping below
Mare Hill, we cross the Haslemere road, skirt the lavishly reconstructed
walls of Lea Park, and, passing Cosford Mill, join the Portsmouth Road
just where the Red Lion marks the road to Thursley.

Here we are on the threshold of the stretch of wild country which
extends from the crests of Hindhead to the outskirts of Farnham, which
of late years has attracted so many visitors and residents to its hill-tops,
and of which Mr. Baring-Gould has treated so vividly in ' The Broom
Squire.'

A word first as to the novel just named. One can hardly be as grate-
ful as one would wish to Mr. Baring-Gould for his study of the district.
True, he has woven into his story many chapters of the history of Thursley
and Frensham, and to the ghastly tragedy on Gibbet Hill, which the
sailor's stone in Thursley Churchyard records, he adds ingeniously a touch
of romance. But the tale at best is lugubrious, and in its ' local colour '
is as intensely sombre as his heroine's career is sad. And so it comes about

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Amid the Pines and Heather

that the reader is tempted nay, almost forced to think of this district
as one of unrelieved gloom.

Nothing could be further from the truth. On a dull afternoon, when
the clouds are low and threatening, Highcombe Bottom no doubt looks
far deeper and more weird than it really is. Little imagination may be

OLD TIMBERED COTTAGES, M1LFORD.

needed then to endow it with the evil spirits and the dragons which
bygone superstitions so freely bestowed on it. But to the true lover of
Nature these wonderful uplands are never dismal. And in the bright
sunshine of spring or summer the gorse, the purple heather, the light-
green whortleberry, give countless touches of brilliant colour to the
treeless hills.

Some West Surrey Villages

Thursley to-day is still a straggling moorland village. The cyclist is
nevertheless a frequent visitor, anxious to see for himself the unknown
murdered sailor's grave and tombstone, which figures in every guide-book
as the chief local memorial of the tragedy on Gibbet Hill. But a better
reward than this is in store for those who ride or stroll to Thursley Church-
yard, in the fine prospect over the open heathland which stretches across
towards Churt and Frensham. Often, too, has the artist found a tempting
subject in the church itself and the adjacent vicarage.

The district of which Thursley Church was the old-time centre has
passed through many phases in its history. As the ' hammer ' ponds
remind us, mines and forges and smelting-pits once marked it as part
of the Surrey iron-fields. When that industry died out, the sole link with
the outside world was the main-road to Portsmouth, which climbed to
the top of the Hindhead ridge at a higher level than the present. The
moorland marsh in part, and in parts impassable which stretched
northwards from this main-road towards Frensham was a veritable ' no
man's land.' From time immemorial squatters settled in the Punchbowl
as Mr. Baring-Gould has told us built themselves hovels and pastured
their sheep, goats, and cattle. They cut their broom-handles from the
Spanish chestnuts which throve in the coppices on the lower hills, and
in the heather which abounded on every hand they found the materials
for the brush of their brooms. They prowled over the marshes for ducks,
and they watched the sand-barrows for rabbits. Now and again a good
haul of fish would be netted in the Frensham ponds. And at Christmas-
tide they wandered far and wide selling the holly they had cut wherever
they could find it of course, without troubling to ask permission.

Nor was the tempting art of smuggling neglected. The nearness of
the district to one of the main arteries of traffic from the South Coast, its
wildness, and its inaccessibility to all who were strangers to it, rendered
it specially suitable for the reception and concealment of contraband tea,
spirits, and tobacco. The cave to which Mr. Baring Gould makes
Mehetabel fly in order to save her child from Bideabout was probably
originally scooped out of the sandstone for this purpose. At least one
farm can be named (I believe) beneath which are carefully-constructed
vaults with an artfully-disguised entrance. And Lord Midleton has
pointed out that many of the wells in the neighbourhood were built bell-
shaped with the same object. In later days still the hut-men became the

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Amid the Pines and Heather

terror of the neighbourhood by their raids on sheepfolds, hen-roosts and
preserves. When at last their chief leader, Chuter, ended his days in the
county gaol, he was serving his seventeenth term of imprisonment.

Of all these things, to-day we have little or no trace. Lawlessness has
long since disappeared. Modern residences cluster to the edge of the
combe which the squatters once regarded as their own ; the iron-works
we know only by name.

But the memory of many of the superstitions which naturally nay,
inevitably sprang up in such surroundings and on such a soil is still pre-
served. Here, again, we are almost bound to tread the path Mr. Baring-
Gould has already trodden. In one form or another he has gathered up
most of the legends which still linger round the moor and the neighbouring
hills. Take, for example, Thors Stone, the gray block of ironstone near
Pudmere Pool, in the middle of Thursley Marsh. We may or may not
endorse the derivation of the name of the parish which he accepts when
he tells us that the slopes that dip towards the stone are ' the Thor's lea,
and give their name to the parish that included it and them.' But of the
popular faith in bygone days, in the elves and pucksies who gathered
there, and previously at Borough Hill, his pages give us a vivid and faith-
ful picture.

Originally the pilgrims made their way to Borough Hill, whence the
famous caldron in Frensham Church was brought, as Aubrey tells us,
' by the fairies time out of mind.' Other theories, however, find favour
in connection with the caldron and the hill. There is the story of the
forgetful woman who, when arranging a christening feast, begged the loan
of a caldron from the pucksies, and who, after her prayer had been
granted, failed to return the kettle according to promise. Yet another
tradition relates how a certain witch lent the caldron to the devil, who
likewise broke his word and failed to return it before sunset as agreed.
When later on he casually looked in and brought the kettle, the irate
dame refused to accept it. Whereupon the devil discreetly buried it in
the neighbouring hill, known to this day as Kettlebury Hill.

But the good folk at Borough Hill on one occasion did their work so
effectively that they thereby lost all their clients. Thus, we are told of
a certain woman who one evening sought to be freed by the fairies' help
from the husband who had made her life unendurable. That same night
he was returning home from his favourite tavern drunk, and, stumbling

105 p

Some West Surrey Villages

over the edge of a quarry, fell and broke his neck. ' Thereupon certain
high moralists and busybodies had the mass of stone broken up and
carted away to mend the roads,' so that a ' degrading superstition ' might
come to an end. But though the Wishing Block on Borough Hill was
thus destroyed, the superstition survived. The pilgrims made their way
instead to Thor's Stone, just as Mehetabel did, to woo the help of the
pucksies in obtaining their hearts' desire.

' She sprang,' writes Mr. Baring-Gould, ' from one dark tuft of rushes
to another, ran along the ridges of sand. She skipped where the surface
was treacherous. What mattered it to her if she missed her footing and
sank, and the ooze closed over her ? As well end so a life that could never
be other than long-drawn agony. . . . Frogs were croaking, a thousand
natterjacks were whirring like the nightjar. Strange birds screamed and
rushed out of the trees as she sped along. White moths, ghostlike,
wavered about her, mosquitoes piped, water - rats plunged into the
pools.'

There is no need to quote further. The artist has not spared his
colours. But the picture lives, and with its help we can conceive some-
thing of what Thor's Stone and Borough Hill meant to the worthy folk
of Thursley and the moors before the rail and the cycle had brought them
into daily and hourly touch with the rest of the world.

We leave Hindhead and Gibbet Hill and the attractions of the Punch-
bowl behind us if we set our faces towards Frensham. But our concern
is with the old-time villages rather than the modern settlements of South-
west Surrey, and we must not miss the Devil's Jumps, or Churt, or Fren-
sham Great Pond itself, if we are to gauge aright the character and charm
of this wide stretch of moorland. Let us, then, leave Thursley by the
Frensham Road, which, after skirting Kettlebury Hill, conducts us amid
the pines to the foot of the three hills ' in the shape of three rather squat
sugar-loaves,' as Cobbett described them, on which, by some curious
chance, the title of ' The Devil's Jumps ' was long since bestowed. Exactly
when or why the name was given, tradition does not say ; and we are just
as much at a loss to know where His Majesty jumped to from the last of
the three hill-tops. But this ignorance need not prevent us admiring the
daring ingenuity with which Cobbett found in these sandy mounds an
argument with which to belabour Unitarianism.

Here we are nearing the straggling village of Churt, in whose history,

106

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Amid the Pines and Heather

perhaps, the most significant incident was the decision of the Court of
King's Bench in 1692, that the parish was part of the Surrey Weald. The
ruling was of importance to the parishioners, inasmuch as it exempted
them from tithes for their moorlands. But geographically and geologically
the Court's view of the matter is difficult to understand, unless, indeed,
we accept the explanation that ' Weald ' was interpreted simply and
broadly as ' wild.'

At Churt to-day we still find Mr. J. C. Hook, who here, as at Witley,
discovered attractions which many others have since resolved to share
with him. His choice of a new home is curiously linked with the paint-
ing of a picture which many of his admirers will recall.

Anticipating Mr. Baring-Gould by many years, Hook found a subject
which appealed to him in 'the broom-dasher' (or 'broom-hawker'), the
lineal descendant of the old broomsquires. The picture depicts the
cottages of Churt straggling over a sloping hill, at the foot of which
a babbling stream runs, crossed by a slab of stone. A boy and girl stand
on this rude bridge, while ' the broom-dasher ' drives across the stream a
cart laden with brooms.

When, a little later on, the artist found that a small farm close by was
for sale, he speedily became its purchaser. Silverbeck, his new house,
was soon in course of erection just above the brook in honour of which it
was named. The spot is thoroughly typical of this corner of the county.
The beck long ago deepened its channel to a valley, and hurrying by
' silver birches and pallid willows,' darker elms and pines and oaks, spreads
broadly in ponds that are the haunts of moorhens and are margined with
sedge, and then goes forth upon the gravelly heath, where many rushes
whisper. On the Farnham side the sandy ridges are crowned with belts
of pines, and shallow valleys are watered by many a tiny brook. Towards
Hindhead, the neighbouring hills gradually merge in the giant heathery
ridge, cleft by numerous deep-cut glens and valleys. Here Hook has
spent the last span of his life, busy as a woodman, a farmer, and a
gardener, as well as a painter.

Our road to Frensham takes us past the Great Pond, much loved by
anglers, to the village pleasantly scattered over the rising ground.

Frensham Church, according to the annals of Waverley, dates from
the end of the thirteenth century. To-day we note a Norman arcade and
the Early English chancel arch as the chief witnesses to the antiquity of

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Some West Surrey Villages

the building. But over and above these architectural details, the church
is proud in possessing the copper caldron which has long enjoyed wide
reputation as Mother Ludlam's caldron, and to whose legendary history
I have already alluded. Salmon, however, is very matter-of-fact in his
references to it. ' It need not raise any man's wonder, for what use it was,
there having been many very lately to be seen, as well as very large spits
which were given for entertainment of the parish at the wedding of poor
maids.'

1 08

CHAPTER XI

ON THE BANKS OF THE WEY BASHING (SHACKLEFORD), PEPER HAROW

AND ELSTEAD

HE Lower Wey embracing in that term the course of
the river from Guildford to the Thames has many
beautiful reaches, as all who know it will admit. But
it is far eclipsed in variety of charm and interest by
the upper portion of the stream ; and to these softer
scenes we may well turn if we wish for pleasant and
striking contrasts with the pines and the heather of the
moorland which we have just traversed.

Godalming, clustering on the banks of the stream and climbing the
hillsides which overlook its course towards Shalford and Guildford, is
our most convenient starting-point, and so rich is it in routes to tempt the
cyclist and the rambler that our chief difficulty at the outset will be to
select one of the many alternatives open to us. No doubt the canoeist
who, having obtained the needful permit, faces the hazards and labours
of a voyage up the shallow river may in some respects have the advantage
of us so far as the Wey and its actual banks are concerned. But afoot we
shall visit spots that he will miss, and we shall traverse many bits of
Devonian Surrey as we make our way along and across the river valley.
It matters little whether we elect to follow the river-bank as closely as
possible from Godalming Church to Hurtmoor Bottom or whether we
climb at once to the uplands by the path which skirts Ockford Wood
Park. In either case we quit pleasant views of the rich river valley only
to find as we ascend to higher ground broad vistas open out on either
hand, with peeps of the Hindhead and Hog's Back ridges in the distance
and the noble spires of Charterhouse in the near background. Presently,
we find ourselves in Eashing Lane, and then after passing farmhouses
almost ideal, alike in their setting and their colouring, we may dip down

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Some West Surrey Villages

by yet another fascinating footpath among the trees, and rejoin the river-
banks just above Hashing Bridge.

The picture which meets the gaze fascinates us at once, as the eye
wanders from the half-timbered cottages to the mill ; from the mill to the
bridge, gray with age ; and from the bridge to the gently flowing stream,
its bed overgrown with rushes, its banks dotted with willows ; and from
the stream to the rich foliage in the meadows and on the steep hillside.
One shudders to think that the bridge was in sore danger only the other
day. In accordance with strict utilitarian principles, it was condemned

HASHING HOUSE IN 1828.
(From an old print.)

as inadequate and dangerous for heavy traffic. Destruction seemed
imminent, and in the place of a fabric whose stones, rich with lichen,
have weathered the storms of many a century, there were visions of a
spick and span iron structure of the type beloved by the railway engineer,
and accepted as orthodox and economical by the average ' local authority.'
Fortunately more enlightened views prevailed, and the old bridge has now
passed to the benevolent hands of the National Trust.

Here, as at Tilford and Elstead, one may naturally feel tempted to
conjecture, with Miss Jekyll in ' Home and Garden,' how the arches of

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On the Banks of the Wey

these old buildings were built. Their ' ragged outline points to some
ruder method of support than the usual wooden centering of modern
work,' and there seems to the lay mind much plausibility in the same
writer's suggestion that there was some rough construction of tree-trunks
and faggoting and earth put up to build upon, 'just as the vaulted rooms

EASHING BRIDGE.

are built to this day in Southern Italy, where wood is not to be had, by
building up faggots of brushwood and earth into the form of a filling of
vault or dome or waggon-head.'

While we are still tarrying on the bridge, which itself dates back
to King John's days, it is fitting to recall that Hashing can lay some

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Some West Surrey Villages

claim to antiquity. It was named as Esc-ing in Alfred's will, as part of
the property in Surrey bequeathed by the King to his nephew ^Ethelm,
and the question has arisen as to whether it was not the site of one of the
two burns, or fortifications Eschingum and Suthringageweorc erected
by Alfred's son for protection against the Danes. We need not, amid
such surroundings as these, closely scrutinize the evidence for and against
this theory. But I may note that it finds scant favour with Surrey's most
recent historian.

'The modern Eashing,' Mr. Maiden points out, 'is not a place foraburh.
It lay in those days out of the way, among heaths and woods, some miles
from the lines of communication across the country. Where a burh was
wanted was at Guildford on the Pilgrims' Way, and at the passage of the
river, where an enemy going from east to west was almost bound to pass.
Farnham, too, was on the road, and fighting had actually occurred there
in Alfred's days. The burhs generally became boroughs in a later sense,
and Guildford became the county borough, and was certainly the site of
an ancient fortress. At Eashing there is no record or relic of a town or
fortress. Eashing is emphatically a tribal name, a people, or kindred
" the sons of the ash." It is tempting to suppose that this territory reached
what is now Guildford, and that the burh stood among " the sons of the
ash." The name Guildford existed too in 901, and may have gradually
supplanted the more general name, which became restricted to a more
particular settlement of the people at some distance from the fortified
town.'*

But this, Mr. Maiden frankly admits, is merely conjectural, and while
we accept the fact that there were two burhs in Surrey at this period, it is
obviously open to doubt whether the Eashing we see around us was ever
the site of any rude fortress when the storm of Danish invasion was
breaking upon the land.

Almost directly we have crossed the bridge we may enter Peper Harow
Park by the drive on the left. But Shackleford, up to which the road
leads us pleasantly through the woodland, must not thus be passed by.
Although the modern houses dotted among the trees point conclusively to
its recent upgrowth, it is one of the relatively few places in the county
which have yielded proofs of the Roman occupation. Moreover, its church,
designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, deserves a visit if only for the beauty of its

* See ' History of Surrey.'

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situation at the junction of the four cross-roads. And, further still,
Shackleford three centuries ago had for its Squire a worthy London
Alderman whose name and memory we certainly ought not to forget. I
refer to Thomas Wyatt, whose almshouses still stand abutting on the
Portsmouth Road, on the Godalming side of the Peasmarsh, as proof of
his philanthropy and his connection with this corner of Surrey.

Wyatt's career was in many respects precisely of the type which the
City of London in the old days rightly held in honour. The son of a
Sussex Rector, he was apprenticed to one Robert Sheers, of the Carpenters'
Company, and in due course fell in love with and married his master's
daughter Margaret ; prospered exceedingly in business at one time he
rented what is now known as Triggs' Wharf, in the parish of Peter Paul
Wharf; was thrice Master of the Carpenters' Company ; and acquired
property in five or six parishes in Surrey as well as in several other
counties. At Shackleford he owned the estate known as Hall Place,
which remained in his family for many years, and, after passing through
other hands, was bought, in 1797, by the fourth Lord Midleton, who
pulled down the mansion and added the land to Peper Harow Park.

When Wyatt died in 1619, he left full instructions to his ' loving wife '
as to the disposition of his property. From these particulars we get some
glimpse of his family trials. It seems that his eldest son, Henry, certainly
had not imitated his father's prudent thrift. ' Henry,' says the latter in
his will, ' hath already had 550 of me, which is more than his part [of
' all my moveables '] will come to, and hath spent it with a great deal
more, yet will endeavour himself to take no good course to him, I allowing
him thirty pounds a year to maintain himself, but still runneth into every
man's debt and hoping in my death, which I mean shall be little to his
profit, I praying God daily to amend him.'

Still, the father could not be harsh to his spendthrift son. ' Let him
have,' the will continues, ' such a part as will arise out of the third part of
my moveables.'

And the family jars did not stop here. Margaret, the fourth child and
the eldest daughter, seems to have been almost as headstrong as her eldest
brother. On her second marriage, her husband was, in her father's words,
' a man of her own choosing.' There was litigation over the marriage
settlements, for Wyatt gave nothing with her, ' because she married him
without my good wish.' Margaret resented this treatment. ' She doth

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go about to scandal me,' says her father, ' and saith I have done her great
wrong.' But the old man bore no ill-will towards his offspring. He
prayed God to forgive his daughter ; took Him to witness that in respect
to the said settlements and litigation he acted as he was advised by
counsel ; and though he knew Margaret would be the first to speak
against him when he had gone, he left her ' so much as might be her
due ' out of the third of all his moveables ' and 10 more.'

As to the almshouses, the instructions left were characteristically pre-
cise. Wyatt's widow was bidden to get permission to build ten alms-
houses for ' ten poore to dwell in ' in some convenient place near Godal-
ming, upon some part of Peasmarsh. Four of the inmates were to be
chosen from Godalming, two from Puttenham, and one each from Ham-
bledon, Compton and Dunsfold parishes. They were to be neither
drunkards, swearers nor blasphemers. They were to go together orderly
to Godalming Parish Church, if the weather was fair, to hear prayers ; if
the weather was not fair, they were to worship in the chapel. Due finan-
cial provision was made for the erection of the buildings ; an endowment
of 70 per annum from land at Shackleford and Hambledon was
provided, to be divided among the inmates on a specified scale.

Wyatt's widow was to select the first inmates. Afterwards the govern-
ment of the institution was to be transferred to the Carpenters' Company,
who were to visit the almshouses once a year, and, in company with two
out of the parish of Godalming and one out of every parish before named,
were to inquire into and reprove abuses. With a forethought in keeping
with the best traditions of the City, Wyatt made provision for both the
spiritual and creature comforts of the visitors. They were to hear a
sermon and to dine together. The preacher was to receive 6s. 8d., and
405. was allowed for the dinner.

If the Carpenters' Company ' misliked the offer ' Wyatt was evidently
a man to prepare for all eventualities the Mayor of Guildford was to be
asked to undertake the duties prescribed and to receive the revenue set
apart from Wyatt's land at Bramshott to defray any charges in carrying
out the testator's intentions. Needless to say, the Carpenters' Company
did not decline the responsibility ; and the visit of inspection, the conse-
quent sermon by the Vicar and the dinner are still annual events at
Godalming.

Shackleford to-day knows little of Wyatt. Its church, essentially

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modern, has no record of this seventeenth-century Squire, who, with his
wife, worshipped at Puttenham. But it surely should not forget the
name of a citizen whose good deeds will long keep his memory green.

From Shackleford to Peper Harow our road leads through pleasant
open woodlands, where oak, beech, and fir flourish amid rich growth of
fern and bracken. In little more than half a mile we reach the entrance
to Peper Harow Park. But before we actually reach the park itself the
eye is attracted by the picture, almost perfect in form and colour, formed
by the group of farm buildings and dwellings and the church, past which
both carriage-drive and footpath lead. It is an idyllic spot, typical shall
we say ? of the close relationship of former days between squire, parson
and yeoman.

Peper Harow Church has been described as one of the finest in
Southern Surrey. The praise, I think, is excessive. Dunsfold is far more
perfect architecturally, Cranleigh more spacious and impressive. Possibly,
if Pugin's ambitious scheme of reconstruction had been carried out in its
entirety sixty years ago, the claim so made would have held good.
Pugin's plans, however, were adopted only in a modified form, though on
quite a sufficient scale to leave distinct evidence of his handiwork.

Still, the church as it stands to-day has many features of interest.
Note specially the graceful south porch ; the three transitional Norman
arches and their clustered shafts of Irish marble from the Midleton
quarries in County Cork ; the finely-executed effigy by Weekes of the
fourth Lord Midleton ; and the glowing decorations of the Midleton mor-
tuary chapel, where Pugin had full scope. In front of the altar is a stone
slab, inlaid with a cross in brass, recording the death of Joan Adderley,
widow of Sir John Adderley, Lord Mayor of London in 1442, and after-
wards wife of William Brocas, Lord of the Manor of Peper Harow in
Henry VI. 's time. A brass to the memory of the same lady is to be found
also on the north side of the chancel. William Brocas, it is interesting
to note, was somewhat lucky to be in possession of the Peper Harow
property at this time, for his father, Bernard Brocas, to whom it had
descended just at the close of the fourteenth century, had taken part with
the Dukes of Exeter and Surrey and others in a conspiracy against
Henry IV., and had suffered a traitor's fate on Tower Hill in 1400, his
estates, of course, escheating to the Crown. William Brocas was fortu-
ante enough to obtain the restitution of the property, which remained

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in his family for two or three generations after his marriage with Lady
Joan.

The church and the manor-house have always been closely linked
together, and we may therefore note here that the estate, having
descended through females and undergone partition, was ultimately re-
united when it passed into the hands of Mr. Henry Smith and his
wife, Jane Covert, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Apparently
it was sold by them to Sir Walter Covert, of Slaugham, who settled it
on his second wife, to whom Thomas Fuller dedicated a treatise, entitled
' Joseph's Parti-coloured Coat.' Then we learn from one of Swift's letters
to Stella that he thought Mrs. Masham, Queen Anne's favourite and
the ' great Sarah's ' rival, might be disposed to buy the property from
Philip Frowde a Postmaster-General of the same period, to whom it
had been sold in 1699-1700. But this expectation was not realized, and
a purchaser was actually found (1713) in Alan Brodrick, afterwards first
Viscount Midleton.

Of the house or buildings which existed at Peper Harow during this
long succession of years, and many changes of ownership, no indications
now remain which can be identified with any certainty. Lady Jane
Covert refers in her will to her 'jointure house at Peper Harow,' but there
is no evidence to show when that house was erected, or whether it was
the same as that pulled down in 1760-65. It is shown on a plan of the
park dated 1753 as standing on what is now the flower-garden, north-west
of the present mansion. A depression marks the site, and the position of
the magnificent cedars of Lebanon, which are one of the glories of Peper
Harow, and which are known to have been planted in 1735 or 1736, con-
firms the evidence of the plan on this point. No picture of the house
remains, and no actual traces of the building have been discovered.
There seems, however, good warrant for attributing to the seventeenth
century the cottage which was formerly occupied by Admiral Brodrick,
and is now the garden house. The very fine yew hedge near by is
probably of much the same date, and two of the church-bells are dated
1663 and 1694 respectively.

The present mansion was begun by the third Lord Midleton, and
continued by his son and successor, whose effigy we have already noticed
in the church. It was designed by Sir William Chambers, and the
gardens were laid out by ' Capability Brown.' From time to time various

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additions were made to the estate, including the Shackleford property,
which, as we have seen, at one time belonged to the Wyatts, and Oxen-
ford Grange, of which I shall have more to say presently.

Concerning one or two Rectors of Peper Harow in bygone days a few
words ought to be said. Thus, we find that Robert Wood, Rector of
Peper Harow in 1640, was called upon by the Chancellor of the Diocese
to explain, at a visitation at Guildford, why he had not read the prayer
appointed by the King during the expedition against the Scots. Mr. Wood
seems to have been in no degree overawed by the implied charge. He
boldly replied that he knew not from what authority the prayer came.
Moreover, since he heard the Scots were come into England, he thought
it needless, because he had heard of an accommodation. And, further-
more, he prayed for the King in his prayer before the sermon. Finally,
when asked if he would amend his ways and in future duly read the
appointed prayer, Mr. Wood was still of the same mind. His defence
seems to have served. At any rate the State Papers do not show that he
suffered any of the pains or penalties of contumacy.

Oughtred's intimate friend, Robert Wood, a native of Peper Harow, is
believed to have been a son of this obstinate Rector. He rose to some
eminence as a mathematician. Besides translating Oughtred's ' Clavis '
into English, he compiled several treatises which were published above
his own name, including ' A New Almanac for Ever,' of which there is
some account in the Transactions of the Royal Society. He held office
under the Government as a Commissioner of the Revenue and Accountant-
General to the Commissioners for Forfeited Estates in Ireland.

To Owen Manning, who held this living from 1769 to 1801, passing
reference is also due. A remarkable story is told of his youth. Whilst he
was a graduate at Cambridge he suffered from small-pox, and ' was laid out
for dead.' His father in a hopeless way went to look at him. Moved by
a sudden impulse, he raised his son's body, saying, ' I will give my dear
boy another chance,' and to his amazement he beheld signs of returning
consciousness.

Thus brought back from the brink of the grave, Manning was spared
for many years to live the life of a parish priest, and of an earnest but
modest student. He was Rector of Chiddingfold and Vicar of Godalming,
preferring the latter living to that of St. Nicolas, Guildford, which he
was offered and declined. He became also a Canon of Lincoln, and was

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Some West Surrey Villages

a Fellow both of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries.
Besides compiling a Saxon dictionary at a time when such research met
with scant encouragement, he wrote a life of King Alfred and translated
many sermons. Above all, we in Surrey must always remember that we
owe to him the inception and a considerable portion of the text of the
history of the county which William Bray completed.

Manning, as I have hinted, was modest as well as erudite. At his
death, five years after he had been overtaken by blindness, due to his
studies, he desired that no monument should be raised to his memory.
But his friends and former parishioners at Godalming felt that this request
could not be strictly complied with ; a white marble tablet in the nave ol
Godalming Church and a headstone in the churchyard were erected as a
' token of respect and esteem,' and on them tribute is paid to his ' piety
and his virtues, in order that so much worth should not remain undistin-
guished in the grave.'

For Peper Harow park always open to the public one can have
nothing but admiration. From the high ground on which the church and
mansion stand, the prospect is exquisite in its soft and varied beauty as
we look across the river- valley to the hills beyond. Presently we dip down
towards the southern boundary of the park and Oxenford Grange, once
owned by the Cistercians of Waverley. From a reference in the
Loseley MSS. it appears that a house of fair size existed here in the
sixteenth century, and this building was enlarged and occupied two
centuries later by the Brodrick family whilst the present mansion was in
course of erection. But later on much of this building was pulled down,
and the remaining fragment converted into a cottage. No substantial
traces of any masonry of medieval date can now be discovered, and the
new farm buildings close to the gate-house, erected in 1845, are chiefly
interesting because they represent Pugin's idea of the barns and sheds
appropriate to a conventual farm. The White Monks, it has been truly
said, would assuredly feel at home here if they could find their way back
to this peaceful spot on the river-banks.

Two traditions which attach to the farm are almost too familiar to
need mention. There is the story of which Aubrey tells, that ' gold and
silver money, not Roman, but old English, and also rings, have been found
near this place, which makes the inhabitants give as. an acre more rent
than elsewhere in hopes of finding further treasure.' Another version

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speaks of buried treasure which none but the right owners will ever find.
' It is enclosed in a coffer which can only be stirred by seven milk-white
oxen.' The chest was once discovered as tradition records but some
black hairs defiled the pure white of the oxen used in removing it, and it
sank again into the ground. In these prosaic days we shall be more dis-
posed to attribute the higher rent to the shrewdness of the monks in the
choice of the most fruitful land. Of Bonfield Spring, close by, over which
stands a cell designed by Pugin, it is similarly recorded that the waters of
the spring were of high repute as an eye lotion.

ELSTEAD CHURCH, CIRCA 1 820.
(From an old print.)

A couple of miles further along the valley and we reach Elstead Heath,
where we are on the borders of the commons and wild heathlands which
stretch away to the Hindhead ridge. Here, in the church, we note the
belfry stair, cut out of one solid slab of oak, and the curious decoration of
the chancel ceiling, with groups of pelicans feeding their young, the
device adopted by Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, in the days of
Henry VIII., which recalls Withers' lines in his ' Emblems':

' Look here and mark this kind pelican,
And when this holy emblem thou shall see,
Lift up thy soul to Him who died for thee.'
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CHAPTER XII

TILFORD AND THE WHITE MONKS

LSTEAD should by no means mark the limit of our
rambles by the banks of the Wey. We must, at least,
saunter on for two or three miles along the river-valley
until we reach the tiny village of Tilford, where the
Wey and the Till join forces, and where once again we
approach the pines and the heather.

Tilford, with its river-encircled green, its modest

but pleasantly placed church, its twin bridges which have figured on the
canvas of so many artists, has indeed many claims to our notice. Who
in Surrey has not heard of the King's Oak on the village green the
identical tree mentioned by Henry de Blois in his charter to Waverley
monks seven centuries and a half ago ? True, Cobbett has declared that
when he was a little boy it was ' but a very little tree.' But here Cobbett's
memory, one is tempted to think, as one notes the girth and magnificent
branches of this monarch of the forest, must have played him false.
To-day, as for years past, it ranks as one of the finest oaks in the South
of England ; and whether its age be 300 or 1,000 years, who can easily
forgive the vandalistic intentions credited to Bishop Brownlow North
when (as it is alleged) he gave orders to have the tree the pride of Tilford
cut down ? But for once the Bishop had to bow to the popular will.
According to Manning and Bray, the people of the tithing were so wroth
at its suggested destruction that they drove in a great number of spikes
and large nails to prevent its being cut ; and the Bishop's second thoughts
in this connection were better and wiser than his first.

Just beyond the bridge which spans the Till before it joins the Wey,
we notice Tilford House, which early in the eighteenth century was the
Surrey seat of Sir Thomas and Lady Abney, with whom Dr. Isaac Watts
spent so many years of his life. With them he came to Tilford ; he is

Tilford and the White Monks

said to have preached frequently in the small private chapel in the
courtyard, and to have composed some of his hymns in the summer-
house which stands behind the house.

To Tilford Lodge, half a century later, came Charlotte Smith ; and
here, as the reredos in the church reminds us, her chequered life came to
a close.

Charlotte Smith's name is not, of course, one of the great names in
English literature. To many of us to-day it is virtually unknown. But
her life-story is singularly pathetic. Born in 1749, she 'entered society '
at the age of twelve, and received her first offer of marriage at fourteen.
The proposal was declined by her father on the score of her youth ; but
only two years later, when her parent had himself married again, she was
wedded to one Benjamin Smith, five years her senior. The marriage was
emphatically not one of affection, and even in the first years of wedded
life there was little brightness. The girl-wife spent much of her time in
enforced attendance on an invalid mother-in-law of exacting disposition ;
and, while Charlotte longed for the country, she and her husband were
obliged to reside over the elder Smith's house of business in the City.

But worse was to come. When later on the mother-in-law died, the
young couple went to live in Hampshire ; and after the death of Smith's
father, her husband's extravagance soon brought financial troubles in
its train. One anecdote shows the manner of man her husband was:
Charlotte expressed to a friend the desire that her husband should find
rational employment. The friend, in response, suggested that his en-
thusiasm might be directed towards religion. ' Oh,' replied Charlotte,
' for Heaven's sake do not put it into his head to take to religion, for if
he does he will instantly begin by building a cathedral !'

Difficulties and litigation as to his father's will brought matters to a
crisis. The Hampshire estate was sold, and in 1782 Smith was imprisoned
for debt, and his wife shared his confinement for seven months. Charlotte's
courage, however, never seems to have failed. Like many another woman
in trouble, she turned to her pen for help. For some years she had been
in the habit of writing sonnets, and, anxious now to find some means of
supporting herself and her family, she strove to induce Dodsley to publish
some of her compositions. Uodsley at first declined. Ultimately, how-
ever, a little volume was produced by him at Charlotte's expense, and
quickly found favour with the public.

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But her domestic trouble increased rather than diminished. After a
short stay in France, where she busied herself with some translations, she
returned to England, and secured a separation from her husband. There-
after they lived apart. The children remained with the mother, and while
Charlotte occasionally met her husband, constantly corresponded with
him, and continued to give him financial assistance, she firmly refused to
live with him again. Shortly afterwards her first novel, ' Emmeline,' was
published, and won generous praise from Sir Walter Scott. Other novels
followed, among which ' The Old Manor House ' ranks first in popularity
and merit. Failing health was now added to other troubles ; but her
cheerful temperament enabled her to forget all cares in her literary work,
and novel followed novel each year in regular succession.

A friend wrote in 1801 : ' Charlotte Smith is writing more volumes of
"The Solitary Wanderer " for immediate subsistence. She is a woman
full of sorrows. One of her daughters made an imprudent marriage, and
the man, after behaving extremely ill towards the family, died. The widow
has come to her mother, not worth a shilling, with three young children.'

It was not until 1805 that Charlotte Smith removed to Tilford, and
here she died in the following October, seven months after the death of
the husband from whom she had lived apart for nearly twenty years.

From Tilford Church and Green we must, of course, make our way
to Waverley, taking for preference the path which leads past Till Hill
Farm and Sheep Hatch, and ultimately brings us to Waverley Mill. Here
the placid stream, the rich water-meadows, the warm hues of the tiled
roofs, and the background of firs, combine to form a scene of singular
loveliness. When, a little further on, we enter the park, we soon reach
the ruins on the river-bank, and a glance is sufficient to show how admirably
but for floods the monks chose the site of their once-famous home.

I can make no attempt to tell in full the story of this, the first settlement
of the White Monks, the mother-house of the Cistercians in the South
of England. The theme merits more sympathetic treatment than it has
yet received at the hands of county historian or occasional writer ; and any
endeavour to deal with it adequately would carry me far beyond the limits
of these notes and sketches. But who can wander among the meagre
ruins still left to us on this broad rich meadow, almost encircled by the
winding Wey, without some passing thought of the record of human
aspiration and devotion, and of all the manifold vicissitudes of the life of

Tilford and the White Monks

1 the religious ' which these stones commemorate ! The annals of Waverley
we like to think, of course, that it was from poring over these time-worn
chronicles that Sir Walter was led to choose the title which has since

THE KING'S OAK, TILFORD.

become a household word throughout the world are rich in incident on
which the kindly imagination affectionately lingers. We, for our part,
however, must be content with a glimpse here and there.

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First, then, we picture a small band of twelve monks and their Abbot,
newly arrived in England from Normandy, making this tranquil spot their
home nearly eight centuries ago. Bishop Giffard of Winchester was
their sponsor and benefactor, and he endowed them with the manor after
which their abbey was named. Desolate and wild much of the surrounding
country undoubtedly was. Even as recently as the last century wild deer
from Wolmer were to be seen near Crooksbury, and six years after its
foundation the abbey was spoken of, with almost literal truth, as ' in the
forest,' and its monks as dwelling ' far from all company.' But the fertile
valley was soon to yield an encouraging reward to the patient industry
of the White Monks; for though the Cistercian rule produced but few
eminent scholars or statesmen, it provided in its earlier and purer days an
abundance of practical work. The monks' wool and corn were the best
the country produced ; their farms or granges were far in advance of the
rude agriculture of the times.

Moreover, do not let us forget that they played their part in the great
religious revival which swept over the land in the days of Henry I., when
' everywhere, in town and country, men banded themselves together for
prayer.' To men of the world the simple austerity of the Cistercians
made a profound appeal. Only a few years after their arrival at Waverley,
William of Malmesbury wrote that ' the Cistercian Order is now both
believed and asserted to be the surest road to heaven.'

The White Monks lived indeed a life of stern self-repression. As the
same writer tells us in some detail, they wore neither furs nor linen, and,
except on extraordinary occasions, they ate neither fish, eggs, milk, nor
cheese. From September till Easter they took only one meal a day, except
on Sunday. They slept clad and girded, rose at midnight, and continued
till daybreak in singing God's praises ; then, after prime and Mass, spent
the day in labour, reading, and prayer. Only one hour a day was given
to conversation. In a phrase, to quote the old chronicler's words, ' they
were a model for all the monks.'

Thus the Waverley settlement grew in wealth, numbers, and fame,
until, in 1180, it mustered 70 monks and 130 lay brethren, and kept 30
ploughs in constant work.

With increased riches and power came larger ambitions. In place of
the rude Norman church first erected by the side of the river a noble
abbey church was designed, and around it ultimately there was built a

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Tilford and the White Monks

group of buildings, which included the Chapter-house, the guest-house, the
refectory, the treasury, and an infirmary, to say nothing of the gateway
by the river, the four stone bridges, and the Chapel of St. Mary at the
convent gate, of which we find mention in the original records. Finally,
indeed, the site was covered with a stately pile which rivalled, if it did not
surpass, those of Tintern and Furness.

Only by degrees was this comprehensive design carried out, for the
White Monks did not escape the ups and downs of life. Turn, for
example, to the story of the abbey church. The work had just been set

MOTHER l.UDLAMS CAVE.
(From an old print.)

on foot in 1203, when a ' great famine and dying of men ' befell the house,
and the monks were forced to flee and seek shelter within other walls.
Five years later they were again in distress. King John, smarting under
the Pope's edict, seized the property of all ecclesiastics, and among them
the possessions of William, Rector of Broadwater, Sussex, the chief
benefactor to the new church. For a while the outlook was dark, but it
brightened quickly and unexpectedly.

In the very same year the King visited the abbey. Although assuredly
no lover of ecclesiastics, he was apparently favourably impressed with his
reception, for he restored the confiscated property of the Rector of Broad-
water especially to enable him to carry on the building of the church.

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John's visits were not often associated with such pleasant deeds, and
perhaps we may find the clue to this exception to the general rule in the
fact that the King had on this occasion brought his wine with him. More-
over, as the records show that some 500 gallons were thus provided for
a couple of days' visit, we may plausibly infer that the requirements of
even his thirsty household were fully met.

John, however, was again in a hostile mood a couple of years later.
His wrath was kindled against all the Cistercian Order. The Abbot of
Waverley left his house and fled away secretly by night. The monks
were ' scattered round about throughout England.' In time the storm
blew over. Abbot and monks returned, and again steadily pushed on
with their big building schemes. Yet nearly thirty years elapsed before
the first portion of their church was complete.

By 1231 the choir transepts, central tower, and western abutments
were finished, and we read that ' on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle
the monks of Waverley entered the new church from the first old church
with a solemn procession and joy of great devotion." As the recent
excavations carried on by the Surrey Archaeological Society conclusively
show, the front of the old church was incorporated with the new.

For another forty years the monks worked on with a patient persistence
which we Englishmen of to-day may well admire and envy as we think of
Truro. And then finally, in 1278, just three-quarters of a century after
the first start was made, the fabric was complete.

Great were the rejoicings with which the event was celebrated. On
St. Matthew's Day the church was solemnly dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin by Nicholas Ely, Bishop of Winchester, and nothing that episcopal
goodwill and favour could do was lacking to make the occasion memorable.
The Bishop not only granted to all present ' one year's remission ' and
' forty days of pardon to all who should frequent that place on the anni-
versary of its dedication,' but in things temporal he was, to say the least,
equally generous and certainly more unselfish. As the annalist tells us,
' out of the abundance of his favour and devotion, being desirous that
everything relating to the said dedication should be accomplished with joy
and happiness, he magnificently supplied at his own expense on that day
provisions for all persons present.'

Another contemporary chronicler carries the story still further : ' And
not only on the first day, but even almost through the nine days'

126

Tilford and the White Monks

solemnities, he sustained with victuals all who frequented the said place.
No less than six Abbots and other prelates were present on the occasion,
very many knights and ladies, and so great a multitude of both sexes that
it was impossible to number them. The number of those who sat down
the first day to meat was 7,066 of both sexes, and this was reckoned
according to the distribution of dishes ; and all these, being refreshed by
the overteeming generosity of the Bishop, returned to their homes glorify-
ing and praising God.'

Perhaps we ought to exercise a careful discretion before unreservedly
accepting the exact figures of this medieval statistician. But whether the
Bishop's hospitality was limited to one day or nine, and whether his
guests numbered seven thousand or one, we may well believe that the
feastings and rejoicings were on a scale which Waverley had never before
witnessed. Bishop Nicholas, let me add, was always partial to Waverley,
and on his death, a year later, he directed that his body should be buried
in the abbey church, while his heart was carried to Winchester Cathedral.

But busy though they were with their husbandry and their architectural
schemes, the monks were keen in the defence of the rights of their Order.
There was, for example, a delicate question of precedence as between
Waverley and Furness, which, after much controversy, was finally decided
in favour of the former. Then we have, too, the familiar and instructive
story of the invasion of the privilege of sanctuary committed by certain
officers of justice in the apprehension of a young shoemaker within the
precincts of the abbey. According to the annalist, the shoemaker was
plying his calling at Waverley, when he was seized on a charge that he
had committed homicide some months previously. He was bound and
carried off to prison, despite the anathema of the Abbot and the protests
of the seniors of the monastery. Waverley was at once up in arms. The
services even the Masses were stopped. The Abbot, failing to persuade
the Papal Legate to intervene, hurried to the King (Henry III.) himself,
and with s'ighs and tears brought his complaint into the royal presence.

The King played the part of a wise mediator. At his suggestion the
services of the abbey were renewed pending his Council's decision on the
constitutional question involved. The Council were hard to convince.
' Most perversely interpreting the Apostolic writings, and expounding
them maliciously,' they first gave their answer against the Order, thereby
causing ' much grief of heart and bitterness of soul ' to the worthy Abbot.

127

Some West Surrey Villages

But still he persisted in his claims, and at length won the day. The man
was brought back to the abbey by the same officers, to the joy of the
neighbourhood. The overzealous officers were less happy in their fate.
They were excommunicated, and then only restored after satisfaction had
been done to God and the abbey, and after they had been publicly whipped
by the Prior and the Vicar of Farnham.

' They became in future more respectful to our Order,' adds the
chronicler with na'ive satisfaction. Who can wonder ? And what were
the feelings of the young shoemaker at his narrow escape from the clutches
of the law ?

No doubt monastic life at Waverley, as elsewhere, changed for the
worse in subsequent years, but on these developments we must not pause
to dwell. We must be content to glance for a moment at two letters
which tell us in bare outline the story of the abbey's fall. First we have
Dr. Richard Layton's account of his visit to the abbey in September, 1535,
when the first warning note was struck. Now, Layton was a man after
Thomas Cromwell's own heart, and he certainly did not spare the monks
and their ruler when he despatched the Abbot to Cromwell at Winchester
with a note of introduction, from which I quote a typical sentence or two.
Thus : ' The man (the Abbot) is honest, but none of the children of
Solomon : every monk within his house is his fellow, and every servant
his master. . . . Yesterday, early in the morning, sitting in my chamber
in examination I could neither get bread, nor drink, neither fire of those
knaves, till I was fretished [fretishing a pain in the limbs arising from
cold] ; and the Abbot durst not speak to any of them. ... It shall be
expedient for you to give him a lesson, and tell the poor fool what he
should do. Among his monks I found corruption of the worst sort,
because they dwell in the forest from all company.'

The Abbot, it is to be feared, had an unpleasant quarter of an hour
with Cromwell. But all that we know of the interview is summed up in
a single phrase quoted by the Abbot himself nine months later, when he
made a last despairing appeal for mercy to the ' right honorable Master
secretary to the King,' in response to the latter's ominous demand for full
particulars of the ' true extent, value and account of the monastery.'
Cromwell was besought, ' for the love of Christ's passion,' to ' help the
preservation of this poor monastery, that we your beadsmen may remain
in the service of God, with the meanest living that any poor men may live

128

Tilford and the White Monks

with in this world. ... In no vain hope I write this to your mastership,
forasmuch you put me in such boldness full gently when I was in suit to
you the last year at Winchester, saying, " Repair to me for such business
as ye shall have from time to time." Therefore instantly praying you, I
and my poor brethren with weeping yes, desire you to help them ; in
this world no creatures in more trouble.'

The appeal was, of course, in vain. The very next month the Abbot
had to surrender the property to the Commissioners, and though the monks
for a time found shelter in other houses of the Order, they were soon again
dispersed in the general overthrow of conventual life. They numbered
but thirteen, however, for Waverley had fallen far from its former high
estate, and had been eclipsed both in wealth and numbers by other houses
of the same Order in the South of England.

129

CHAPTER XIII

SEALE, PUTTENHAM, AND COMPTON

HE ruins of Waverley Abbey and the story of the White
Monks far from exhaust the interesting associations of
the corner of West Surrey to which our rambles have
brought us. Just at hand we have Moor Park, with
its memories of Temple and Dorothy Osborne, and of
Swift and Stella. Near by is Mother Ludlam's Cave,
where, according to tradition, the witches' caldron
now at Frensham was first housed, and where, according to Aubrey,
Lud, King of the West Saxons, repaired after the heat of a fight to cool
and dress his wounds. Of course, we must bestow a glance upon the
modest tenement, with its dormer-windows and its rich red tiles, where
Swift is believed to have first met Esther Johnson ; but on topics so
attractive and inexhaustible as these we must not venture to dwell. We
make our way, first, north by the Tongham road, and then toward the
happily-placed villages of Scale, Puttenham, and Compton, at the foot of
the great chalk ridge which runs from Farnham to Guildford.

We still have the boundary fence of Moor Park on our left, and, as
the road ascends the slope of Crooksbury Hill, we are still among the
pines,

' Where the deep mysterious pine gloom
Frames the gorse's gold,
Where in wealth untold
The heather flushes into wine bloom.'

If we are wise, we shall not begrudge either the time or the labour
required in climbing to the top of the fir-crowned hill. Here Cobbett, in
his boyhood, was a ' taker of the nests of magpies,' and here we to-day
may enjoy a glorious prospect over woods and heaths and the valley of
the Wey, until the eye rests on the dim outlines of the northern downs

130

Seale, Puttenham, and Compton

beyond Godalming and Guildford. When we descend and reach the
cross-roads in the hamlet of Sands, we are sorely tempted to turn to the
right and visit Cutmill Ponds and Common ; the name dates back to
John de Cotte, or Cutte, who owned it in the thirteenth century. With
its magnificent sheet of water known as the Tarn, Cutmill Common is
essentially one of the gems of the district. Its quiet loveliness will charm,
whether the delicate tints of spring are clothing the birches and oaks with
fresh beauty, or the gorgeous hues of autumn enrich the woods and
commons which surround the lake.

SEALE CHURCH.

But, fascinating as this valley is, let us pursue our way northward
towards Seale, where once again we strike the path of the Canterbury
pilgrims.

For a mile or so after leaving Farnham and its castle, the summer
pilgrims, no doubt, for the most part left the chalk road along the Hog's
Back for the green woodland track at the southern base of the hill ; here
they would find shelter from the sun, and many more inducements to
loiter by the way. To-day it is difficult to trace the exact track. At the

131 s 2

Some West Surrey Villages

eastern end especially its identity has been for the most part lost in lanes
and roads ; but between Seale and Puttenham it is believed to have
followed the course of the road which skirts Seale Common, and from
Puttenham to Compton it can readily be recognised in the path which
branches off from the road at the western corner of Puttenham Heath
(almost opposite the Jolly Farmer), keeps near the northern edge of the
heath, and ultimately brings the traveller to-day to the boundaries of
Mr. G. F. Watts' residence. Thence the pilgrim, after a visit to Compton
Church, would pursue his way to St. Catherine's Ferry along the Sandy
Lane of to-day, and past Littleton Cross, ' where a bare-footed friar, with
his money-bag, probably accepted thankfully the smallest offerings at the
wayside shrine.' As Mr. Kerry has suggested, ' Robbers' ' or ' Reamers'
Moor ' and ' Beggars' Corner ' names still in local use probably date
back to the days of the wayfarers ; while Shoelands, the ivy-covered farm-
house, bearing the date 1616 on its porch, which is passed midway between
Seale and Puttenham, possibly owes its title to the old word ' shool,'
which in many dialects signifies ' to beg.'

Following more or less closely the route which tradition thus marks
out, a succession of leafy lanes, broken again and again by bits of breezy
common, with the bold ridge of the Hog's Back always sheltering us to
the north, offers as pleasant a ramble as a pedestrian can desire.

Seale may well be our first halting-place. Shut in by the fir-clad hills
to the south, Seale to-day is placid and picturesque. Its parishioners
may cherish strong feelings on certain vexed questions of infinite local
importance which they have tried to settle with their neighbours at
Tongham across the Hog's Back. But to the outward eye nothing could
be more suggestive of peace and repose than the aspect of the village in
the richly wooded, well-broken ground that separates the chalk ridge from
the sandy moorland we have just recently traversed.

Charmingly placed on a knoll just above the centre of the village, with
a magnificent elm as one of the features of its trim churchyard, Seale
Church well merits a brief study. True, it is difficult to trace in the
admirably kept and appointed fabric to-day much that recalls the original
thirteenth-century church on the same site to which the pilgrims bent
their steps. It was, in fact, partly rebuilt forty years ago, and very
thoroughly restored in the seventies. But among its monuments we shall
not fail to notice the Woodroffe brasses on the chancel wall, and the many

132

Seale, Puttenham, and Compton

memorials to the Longs, including one to Edward Noel Long, the ' Cleon '
of Byron's juvenile poems, who died at sea on his way to Spain.

The Woodroflfes owned the Manor of Poyle in the sixteenth, seven-
teenth, and eighteenth centuries, and the Manor of Poyle takes its name
from a family of whom we have, many reminders to-day in South-west

PUTTENHAM STRKET.

Surrey. For early in the thirteenth century Walter de la Poyle (or Puille
or Poille), a retainer in the family of Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Corn-
wall, obtained the wardship of, and ultimately married, the daughter and
heiress of Stephen de Hampton in Oxford, and thus became the owner
of an estate in that county afterwards known as Hampton Poyle. In
Surrey the Poyles also acquired property; their connection with Guild-

"33

Some West Surrey Villages

ford is commemorated by Pewley Hill and the Poyle charities, and in
Seale we have, on the north side of the Hog's Back, Poyle Park and Poyle
House, and on the south side Hampton Lodge, just above thetutmill
Ponds.

Quitting Seale, we can, if we choose, inspect the rectangular entrench-
ment known as Hillbury, which may or may not be of Roman origin, or
we may push on at once to Puttenham. And a very fascinating picture
the village presents, when it first comes into view, just where a well-
marked footpath on the right invites us to avoid the detour made by the
road. A cluster of cottages, whose tiles are rich with the colouring age
alone can give, amid a thick embowering wood, with the church tower in
the distance against a background of magnificent trees such is Puttenham
as we see it from the slightly higher ground to the west.

Puttenham's records yield less of interest than might be expected at
first thought. Its ' priory ' does not mark the site of a religious house, as
one is naturally tempted to suppose ; the name simply distinguishes the
part of the manor which passed into the hands of the priory of Newark.

So, too, with regard to its caves ; they may have had something to do
with the pilgrims, but of this there is not the slightest proof available.
Possibly, as Mr. Ralph Nevill has hinted, the sand may have been dug
out at some time for glass-making, or even for the ordinary purposes of
building ; or we may possibly have here one of the smugglers' hiding-
places, as tradition is always so ready to suggest where caves are con-
cerned. But of this, again, no record can be traced ; Puttenham, as far
as I can ascertain, is singularly destitute of smugglers' stories or legends.

But if the pilgrims had nothing to do with the caves, they certainly
visited the church and the fair ; and Puttenham, in its way, was just as
prompt as Guildford and Farnham to cater for the travellers, and offered
them every inducement to loiter in the village. We have further evidence
of this in the fact that a rival fair was established on the site still known
as Fairfield at Wanborough, just across the Hog's Back. Here six
monks from Waverley had been established to serve the parish church,
and though Wanborough was, from the pilgrims' point of view, on the
wrong side of the chalk ridge, and the number of wayfarers attracted to
it would be comparatively small, it was important enough to be worth a
vigorous dispute between the Abbot of Waverley and the Prior of Newark.

From all which we may infer that Puttenham, halfway between

'34

Seale, Puttenham, and Compton

F"arnham and Guildford on the main route of the summer pilgrims, was
a halting-place of some note and favour with them. In its shady church-
yard they, no doubt, found a tempting lounge.

In the church we need not tarry long ; but we must not forget that
an eighteenth-century Rector was Swift's ' little parson cousin,' Thomas
Swift, who has left on record a charmingly naive eulogy of the natural
beauties of his parish :

' The situation of this place is so healthy, as to deserve such a Remark,
as the finest Stroke of the best Pen could give it : Such is the Salubrity
of its Air, as did those wealthy Citizens know it, who want nothing so
much as Health, I might say with as much Truth, as the ingenious
Mr. Cowley does with Wit, that they would come and make a City here ;
for in this little Spot you see a Specimen of the Antediluvian World, the
Streets crowded with

' " Natis natorum, et qui nascuntur ab illis."

And such a Tribe of Patriarchs within Doors, as if this Place were
exempted from the Feebleness and hasty Decays of this last Age of the
World, and Death confin'd to keep his due Season for Harvest, mowing
down none, until Time had ripen'd them for his Scythe.'

We do not nowadays visit Puttenham as a ' Specimen of the Ante-
diluvian World'; but we may well hope that both its salubrity and its
picturesqueness may long continue to deserve ' the finest Stroke ' that ' the
best Pen ' can give it.

Pursuing our way eastward in the footsteps of the pilgrims, we must
choose the path on our left, which quits the main-road just as we reach
the edge of Puttenham Heath, and which takes us near the stone and
flagpost commemorating the spot on which the late Queen's carriage was
stationed fifty years ago on the occasion of a review. Guide-books have
made much of the fact that Her Majesty exclaimed that she did not
know that she had so lovely a spot in her dominions. It will be unwise,
perhaps, to take this statement too literally. The view from Putten-
ham Heath, though varied and picturesque, certainly is rivalled, if not
surpassed, from many other points in South-west Surrey.

Ultimately, as I have said, our track brings us to the northern outskirts
of Compton village, and immediately beneath the pines which enclose
Mr. Watts' Surrey home. Here the artist ' whose life and age are one

35

Some West Surrey Villages

with love and fame ' spends winter and spring in quietness, with ' his
studio close to Nature's self.' In more senses than one the latter phrase
is literally true. When Limnerslease was built the woods immediately
around it were left untouched. Tall firs still stand in the natural garden,
and ' the wild wood-birds, appreciating the kindly hands that have left
their haunts as Nature made them, repay the kindness with a frank bold-
ness that is a continual delight to the indwellers.' Fourscore years and
more, we are happy to know, have left the veteran painter with his natural
strength but little abated. Rather have they ripened his powers, quickened
his insight, and fortified the buoyant faith with which he has ever viewed
the fundamental problems of Thought and Life. And who can yet attempt
to measure the influence of the example and the teaching of the artist-
philosopher, whose consistent aim has been to give, and to prompt others
to give, ' the utmost for the highest.'

In recognition of a kindliness which has never been known to
fail, quite as much as in virtue of a world-wide fame, Mr. Watts'
name will always be honoured in Compton. Not less have the villagers
cause for gratitude to Mrs. Watts. For, thanks to their joint
generosity, and the latter's untiring personal labours, Compton owns a
mortuary chapel unique in the country. This little building, in brick
and terra-cotta, which crowns a knoll within a stone's-throw of Limners-
lease, is remarkable both in design and in execution. So far as manual
work is concerned, it is the work of those for whose service it is built.
The Lady of the Manor and the Squire each moulded a brick, and the
decorations of the walls were almost entirely the product of the evening
classes for the villagers conducted by Mrs. Watts and her friends during
the winter. Thus the chapel is essentially an application of the principles
of the Home Arts and Industries Association a striking example of
successful efforts to revive the taste for, and skill in, those home arts and
crafts which may be made to play so beneficent a part in our village life.

The chapel, however, teaches other lessons. ' Built to the loving
memory of all who find rest near its walls, and for the comfort and help
of those to whom the sorrow of separation yet remains,' it was designed
by Mrs. Watts so that its walls should ' tell the story, or, at least, some
fragment of the story, of the spiritual life.' Symbolism reigns everywhere,
and everywhere speaks of life and hope and faith and beauty. ' As far as
is possible,' Mrs. Watts herself writes in 'The Word in the Pattern,'

"36

Seale, Puttenham, and Compton

' every bit of the decoration of this chapel, modelled in clay of Surrey by
Compton hands under unusual conditions much of the work having been
done gratuitously, and all of it with the love of it that made the work
delightful has something to say, though the patterns can claim to be no
more than the letters of a great word.' Thus, to quote only one or two
examples, the decorated bricks of the buttresses bear a representation of
the tree of life; on the doorway, man's destiny is shown as ascending
from the dragons of darkness to the Cross ; the frieze which runs round
the building is called ' the Path of the Just,' and is descriptive of the

COMITON.

passage, ' The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and
more unto the perfect day.'

Although internally much work still remains to be done, it is no
slight praise to say of this recently-erected chapel in Compton's new
graveyard that it equals in interest the old village church. The latter,
of course, we must not fail to visit. For St. Nicholas, Compton, as all
who know Surrey churches are aware, has many notable features, and
one feature that stands alone in the county. I need make no attempt
here to follow in detail either the careful description of the building which
Mr. L. Andre" some years ago contributed to the Surrey Archaeological

37 T

Some West Surrey Villages

Society ' Collections,' or the exhaustive monograph which the Rev.
H. R. Ware recently devoted to the same subject in ' Three Surrey
Churches.' It is enough for us who are ramblers first and ecclesiologists
afterwards to note a few of the more salient facts concerning its structure
and history.

Compton Church was, as we shall have imagined, a pilgrims' church,
and the pilgrims left their marks upon its pillars. But its story dates
much further back than this. Mr. Ware, who holds that there is some
presumptive evidence of the existence of an even earlier church on this
site, favours the view that the tower may belong to the days of Edward
the Confessor. Next in order of date he places the lower stage of the
east chancel, which belongs to the early Norman period. The eastern
gallery, or upper sanctuary, as it has been termed, in its present form, and
the high roof of the chancel, are, he thinks, of a somewhat later Norman
period ; later still came the arch in front of the gallery ; and a few years
subsequently (say about 1150) came the eight arches of the nave.

The eastern gallery, or upper sanctuary, to which reference has just
been made, is the feature which gives the church its unique interest.
Mr. Ware puts forward a very interesting theory to account for its con-
struction. ' It seems probable that the original chancel at Compton was
shorter than the present chancel, and that the lower stage of the eastern
portion of the chancel was added in the early Norman period. If this
were so, it would be natural to put an altar in the nave as soon as the
chancel was enlarged. . . . Shortly after the introduction of the nave
altar, a third altar was desired, but the ground outside was not favourable
for building a chapel contiguous to the chancel ; hence the addition of the
eastern gallery for the purpose of containing the desired third altar, the
roof, which had been low, being accordingly raised.' It may have been
a chapel for monks, or a family chantry.

The oak railing or balustrade which still stands in front of this gallery
dates back, like the latter, to the twelfth century. It deserves note as one
of the few specimens now to be found in the country of woodwork which
is undoubtedly of the Norman period.

When we leave Compton behind us, and bend our steps towards
Guildford, our rambles are nearing an end. We can still tread the
pilgrims' path, and, like them, make our way beneath the woods of Loseley
to St. Catherine's Hill, whose sandy knoll is still crowned by the ruins of

138

Seale, Puttenham, and Compton

the chapel from which it takes its name. Or we may climb the Hog's
Back, and, ere we dip down to the valley of the Wey, enjoy once more
the wide and varied prospect which opens out from the summit of the
chalk ridge. Whichever route we choose, I do not think our wanderings
in South-west Surrey, amid the pines and heather, by river and streamlet,
and along many a richly-wooded vale, could more fittingly close than at
the foot of the High Street of the old county town in which the past and
the picturesque so pleasantly blend.

39 T3

IN DEX

AlilNGER, 2, 86, 87

Abney, Sir Thomas, 120
Adderley, Sir John, 1 15
Albury, 9, 19, 31, 37, 44

Conferences, 20, 21

New Church, 32-38

Old Church, 30-32

Park, 28-30

Rifle Club, 40, 41
Alfold, 85, 86, 94
Allen, Grant, 2, 3
Anderida Silva, 58
Andr, Mr. L., 90, 137
Arundel, Earl of, 28, 33
Arundel Marbles, 28, 29, 37
Ashmole, Elias, 37
Askew, Mr. K., 9

Aubrey, 9, 17, 19, 34, 44, 47, 94, 118, 130
Audley, Lord, 5, 7

Bank-notes, Manufacture of, 45

Baring-Gould. Rev. A. S., 102, 104-107

Baynards, 63-66

Blackheath, 50

Blackmore, R. D., 2

Boehm, 4

Bonfield Spring, 119

Bonham, Sir George, 69, 74

Borough Hill, 105, 106

Bray family, 5, 60, 101
Sir Edward, 65, 101
Sir Reginald, 7, 12-16, 101
William, 12, 17, 18, 31, 118

Brocas, William, 1 1 5

Brodricks, The, 113, 116, 118

Brown, Capability, 116

Browne, Harold, Bishop of Winchester,
39

Brownlow North, Bishop, 120

Buckingham, Duke of, 12, 13

Burrow's Cross, 4

Butlers, The, Earls of Ormond, 6

Canterbury pilgrims, 6, 8, 31, 50, 131, 132,

'34

Carpenters' Company, 113, 114

Caryngton, Richard, 64

Catholic Apostolic Church, 19, 23

Challoner, Colonel, 25

Chambers, Sir William, 1 16

Chiddingfold, 84-86, 91-97, 117
Crown Inn, 94, 96, 97

Chilworth, 42-50

Churches : Albury, 32-38 ; Chiddingfold,
94 ; Clandon, West, 66 ; Compton, 137,
138 ; Cranleigh, 63-65 ; Dunsfold, 90,
91 ; Elstead, 119; Ewhurst, 60 ; Frens-
ham, 107 ; Hambledon, 99 ; Hascombe,
70 73 ; Holmbury St. Mary, 55 ; Peper
Harow, 115; Puttenham, 135; Seale,
'3 2 ' '33! Shere, 5; Shackleford, 112,
1 14; Witley, loo, 101

Churt, 104, 106, 107

Chuter, 104

Cistercians, The, 118, 122-129, '34

Clandon, 83

Clarence, Duke of, 101

Clay, Sir Arthur, 4

Clive, The Hon. Robert, 36

Cobbett, William, 25, 29, 42, 45, 61, 84,
106, 120, 130

Cole, Vicat, 4

Colekitchen Lane, 3

Compton, 114, 130, 132, 135-138

County Club, Guildford, 36

Covert, Sir William, and Lady Joan,
116

Cranleigh, 6, 61-70, 74-83
School, 70

Cranley, Viscount, 69, 74, 83

140

Index

Cromwell, Oliver, 78, 79

Thomas, 128

Crooksbury Hill, 124, 130
Cutmill Ponds, 131

I)e Aquila, 101

Devil's Jumps. 106

Drummond, Henry, 19 29, 32, 38, 40

Duncomb, George, 36

Dunsfold, 84-86, 90, 91, 114

Hashing, 109-1 12

Eliot, George, 100

Elizabeth, Princess of York, 13

Ellery, John, 61

Elstead, no, 1 19, 120

Ely, Nicholas, Bishop of Winchester, 126,

127

Elyots, The, 36
Evelyn, George, 83

John (Silva), 17, 25, 28, 29, 37, 44, 66
Ewhurst, 58-60

Farley Heath, 31, 38, 39, 59

Farthing Copse, 46

Felday. See Holmbury St. Mary

Finch, Heneage, 29, 30

Flint implements, 49

Foster, Birket, 99

Fox, Richard, Bishop of Winchester, 119

Frensham, 86, 102, 104, 105, 107, 130

Frowde, I'hilip, 116

Fuller, Thomas, 1 16

Furnace Bridge, 86

George's Chapel, St., 1 2, 1 5
Gibbet Hill, 102, 104
Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, 124
Glasshouse Field, 86
Glass-making, 84, 86, 93, 94
Godalming, 109, 114, 117, 118
Godschall, Robert, 36
Gomshall, 3, 36
Grote, George, 10

Mrs., 10, 53
Guildford, 112. 138
Gunpowder-mills, 32, 42, 44, 45, 80

Halfpenny Lane, 46

Hall Place, Shackleford, 113

Hambledon, 86, 98, 99

Hammer Ponds, 68, 84, 87, 104

Hanham, Sir John, 74

Harding, Robert, 64, 74

Hascombe, 70-73

Haslemere, 86

Heights, "I he, Witley, 100

Hillbury, 134

Hindhead, 106, 107

' Hokmonday,' 9

Holditch, Richard, 48

I lull, Frank, 4

Holmbury Hill, 56, 58

House, 56

Holmbury St. Mar)' (Felday), 54, 55
Hook, J. C., 99, loo, 107
Horsley, Samuel, 35

Howard, Henry, Duke of Norfolk, 28, 29,
37

Thomas, Karl of Arundel, 28
Hurtwood, 53, 61

Ironworks, 44, 68, 69, 86-89, 104
Irving, Edward, 19-22

Jeffreys, Judge, 82
Jekyll, Miss, no
Johnson, Esther, 130
Jones, or Jonys, Thomas, 101

Kettlebury Hill, 105, 106
King-game, 9
Knowle, 63, 64, 74-83
Knutsford, Lord, loo

Layfield, Kdward, 95, 96
Leader, Mr. B. W., 4
Leech, John, 43

Leveson-Gower, Hon. E. L., 56
Lewes, George H., loo
Limners lease, 136
Lingfield, 86
Little London, 32
Littleton Cross, 132
London Lane, 9
Long, Edward Noel, 133
Loseley MSS., 118

M'Neile, The Rev. Hugh, ai, aa, 32, 33,
39

141

Index

Maiden, H. E., 31, 56, 58, 112

Malthus, 36

Manning, Dr. Owen, 17, 117, 118

Manor House, Chilworth, 46-48

Mare Hill, 102

Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of, 48, 116

Marsh, Mrs., 56

Martha's Chapel, St., 31, 42, 46, 47, 49

Martin's, St., Blackheath, 50

Martyr, John, 17

Masham, Mrs., 116

Meredith, George, 52

Merrit, Mrs. Lea, 50

Midleton, Lord, 54, 104

Milford, 102

Moor Park, 130

More, Sir George, 66

Sir Thomas, 64-66, 68
Mores of Loseley, 102
Morgan, William, 47
Morton, Bishop of Ely, 12
Mother Ludlam, 108, 130
Mousehill, 102
Mower, Richard, 64
Musgrave, Canon, 71-73

Netley Heath, 2

Pond and House, 4
Nevill, Ralph, 134
Newark Abbey, 46, 134
Newdigate, 86
Nore Farm, 70
Northumberland, Duke of, 26-28, 33

Duchess of, 28, 38

Ockley Wood. Battle of, 56, 57
Odo, Bishop, 46
Oliver House, Cranleigh, 69
Onslow, Arthur, 74, 77-79, 83

Dame, 64, 74

First Lord, 66

Second Baron, 83

Sir Arthur, 33, 81-83

Sir Edward, 76, 77

Sir Richard, 33, 77, 81

Sir Richard (1527-1571), 74, 76
Osborne, Dorothy, 130
Oughtred, William, 33-35, 117
Oxenford Grange, 117, 118

Peaslake, 52, 53
Peasmarsh, 113. 114
Pembroke, Mareschals of, 101
Peper Harow, 112, 113, 115-118
Pewley Hill, 50, 134
Pilgrims' Way, 7, 131, 132, 134
Pirbright, 15
Postford House, 43

Ponds, 42

Poyle, Manor of, 133
Pudmere Pool, 105
Pugin, 115, 1 1 8, 119
Punchbowl, 104
Puttenham, 59, 114, 130, 132, 134, 135

Randyll, Morgan, 47, 48

Redford, John, 9

Richmond, Earl and Countess of, 12,

13

Ridgeway, The, Shere, 1 1
Roberts-Austen, Sir W., 49
Roman road, 59

Station, 31, 56, 70, 134
Villa, 92

Roper, Margaret, 65, 66
Rowcliffe, The late Mr. and Mrs., 73
' Rowland's Stores,' Cranleigh, 69
Rudgwick, 6
Russell, John, 49

Salmon, 31, 44, 50, 108
Sapte, Archdeacon, 62, 64
Sawcliffe, Robert, 7, 8
Scott, Sir Gilbert, 112
Seale, 130-134
Shackleford, 112-115
Shalford, 33, 50
Sheep-stealing, 9, 10
Shere, 4-11, 37, 44, 86

Vachery, 6, 68

' Shirburn Spring ' (Silent Pool), 35
Shoelands, 132
Silverhall Wood, 19
Smith, Charlotte, 121, 122

Henry, 116
Smuggling, 9, 37, 104
' Son of the Marshes,' 10
South Sea Bubble, 48
Spencer, Earls, 48
Stafford, Sir Henry, 12

142

Index

Stanley, Lord, 14, 15
Stella, 116, 130
Street, G. E., 55, 64
Surrey, Eat Is of, 28
Swift, 1 16, 130
Thomas, 135

Temple. Sir W., 130
ThoHs Stone, 105, 106
Thurlow, Thomas Lyon, 66
Thursley, 86, 94, 102-104
Tilford, 1 10, 1 20- 1 22
Tillingbourne, 2, 3, 19, 37, 44, 50 52
Touchet, John (Lord Audley). 5, 7
Townsend, Hamilton, 50
Towton Field, Battle of, 6
Tradescant, 37

Tupper, Martin, 31, 35, 38-41, 43, 65
Tyting Farm, 46

Unwin, Messrs., 45

Vachery, 6, 7, 63, 68, 86
Volunteer movement, 40, 50

Waller, William, 88
Wanborough, 134
Ware, Rev. H. R., 8, 138
Warrens of Surrey, 101
Wars of the Roses, 5, 6, 12

Watts, Dr. Isaac, 120

G. F., R.A., 132, 135, 136

Mrs., 136

Waverley Abbey, 120, 122-129
Weekes. 1 1 ;
Welch, W., 62
Westcott, 3

Westminster Abbey, 12, 15, 16, 33
Weston Street, 33 37
Weston, Thomas de, 36
Wey and Arun Canal, 68, 90
We/, River, 109, 120, 130
Wharton (poet), 91

Sir 1'olycarp, 44, 45
White Horse Inn, Shere, 9
Wilberforce, Bishop, 56
\Vinge, Rev. John, 60
Winn, Rev. W. H., 91
Wither, George (poet), 78, 119
Witley, 86, 98-102
Wood, Rev. R. (1'eper Harow). 117

Robert, 117

Woodroffes, The, 132, 133
Woods, Edward. 8
Wormley Hill, 98-100
Wotton, 3, 44
Wyalt, Thomas, 113, 114
Wykehurst, Thomas de, 64, 65

York, Richard, Duke of, 6
Young, Edward (poet), 91

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